Children's National Medical Center To Relocate in Annapolis

ANNAPOLIS, MD — A branch of the Children’s National Medical Center will move into a downtown office building in an effort to expand its services for young patients and their families, according to the leasing agent. MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services announced Tuesday that the pediatric health system has signed a lease for 10,500 square feet at 1730 West St., known as the Tate Building.

The new space for the hospital's outpatient clinic will be on the building's first floor, fronting West Street, according to MacKenzie. The clinic currently occupies 6,400 square feet in an office building at 888 Bestgate Road.

It offers a number of specialty services, such as cardiology, developmental pediatrics, neurology and surgical consultations, said Charles Weinstein, an executive vice president with Children’s National Health System.

"We needed more space to meet the community’s needs, and there was not adequate space for us to expand" in the current building, he said.

Aside from its main campus in Washington, D.C., the Children's National Health System provides pediatric healthcare at more than 50 locations throughout Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

At the Bestgate Road location, the outpatient clinic is "in the middle of an eight-story building," and patients have to take an elevator to reach it, said Weinstein, the health system's chief real estate and facility officer.

At the Tate Building, "our patients do not have to take an elevator," he said. "You walk in at the same level as the parking lot.

"At the new property, because we will face West Street, there will be infinitely more visibility and a greater opportunity for people to know, via signage, that we’re there," Weinstein said.

With more space, the outpatient clinic will have more opportunities to expand its services to technologies like sonograms, he said. "It’s a better fit for our patients and families, and they will have greater access to our clinical staff."

If all goes right, Weinstein said he expects the first floor of the Tate Building to be ready for the outpatient clinic by this fall. The health system is working with an Eastport firm, Clockwork Architecture, to design the new location.