Boston Children’s Hospital has signed a lease to open a specialty clinic in downtown West Palm Beach, marking the first time the renowned pediatric hospital has set up shop outside the Boston area. The clinic will be housed inside the 17-story Esperanté Corporate Center, one of downtown’s signature office towers.
The lease was confirmed per a Related Ross executive, according to The Palm Beach Post, which first reported the signed deal. The newspaper’s report, bylined by Andrew Marra and Alexandra Clough, lays out the bare bones of the arrangement: Boston Children’s Hospital signed a lease to open a specialty clinic in the tower, with no further detail yet on size, services or staffing.
The move caps months of speculation about whether the hospital would actually commit to a Florida presence. As recently as September, the hospital had not made a final decision about a move into Florida, according to WUSF, which reported the hospital was exploring downtown sites while fundraising efforts were getting organized, with some Palm Beach-area philanthropists interested in supporting the project.
From Stand-Alone Hospital Talk to a Downtown Clinic
That earlier reporting had floated something much bigger: if the Florida project moved forward, it would mark Boston Children’s first stand-alone hospital outside Massachusetts, per the same WUSF report. The version that has now materialized, a specialty clinic inside an existing office tower, is a narrower footprint than that initial stand-alone hospital concept, and the available reporting does not explain what drove the change in scope…