Hospital moving to Navy Yard

Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital plans to move out of its building near the banks of the Charles River and construct a $100 million home in the Charlestown Navy Yard.

Spaulding will build 150 private rooms, reducing its number of beds from the current 296.

The hospital said yesterday that it has selected architects for the building, which it plans to put up in the shadow of the Tobin Bridge. It will not be ready for patients and staff until 2009 or 2010, said Spaulding's chief executive, Judith C. Waterston.

The current building was built as a nursing home in the 1960s and is becoming obsolete, she said.

''We're in a building that is slowly outliving its useful life," Waterston said. ''It is imperative that we have a new building to keep up with the latest technology and allow staff to better care for patients."

The planned cut in licensed bed capacity is a result of reductions in the length of hospital stays for Spaulding's patients, who range in age from newborn to 90 years old and are recovering from crippling illness or injury.

Spaulding is currently using only about 240 beds, Waterston said, and better medical care and technology promise to reduce daily bed demand further.

The hospital's plans call for all 150 rooms to be private, compared to 26 private rooms at the current building, to meet growing demands by patients for privacy and to reduce infection risks.

The new hospital will also have research and conference space, an indoor aquatics center, and underground parking.

Spaulding will be able to preserve its current offering of outdoor rehabilitation programs at the new site, including boating and a simulated rock-climbing wall, Waterston said.

The hospital is about to launch a $20 million fund-raising campaign for the new facility.

Partners HealthCare System, which owns Spaulding, plans to keep the old structure, but has not decided what to do with the valuable waterfront property near TD Banknorth Garden, said Jeanna Canapari, a spokeswoman for Partners.

Treatment and research expansions at Massachusetts General Hospital, which merged with Brigham and Women's Hospital to form Partners, are fueling heavy demand for space around Mass. General's campus.

The Spaulding decision pleased Mayor Thomas M. Menino's administration, which has been trying to attract development to the Charlestown Navy Yard for years.

In addition to the Spaulding plan, Mass. General has already established research laboratories at the Navy Yard in about 750,000 square feet of space. The Navy Yard was decommissioned in 1974 and acquired by the Boston Redevelopment Authority in 1978.

''It's great news Spaulding is staying in the city," said BRA spokeswoman Susan Elsbree. ''These parcels have been vacant for a long, long time."

Christopher Rowland can be reached at crowland@globe.com.