$15m gift starts up Boston Medical Center building campaign

Boston Medical Center's campaign to expand and update its buildings got an infusion of $15 million, the hospital announced today, a first step in an effort to raise at least $250 million to meet growing patient demand.

The gift from the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation will fund an expansion plan that includes a new nine-story ambulatory care center at the corner of East Concord and Albany streets in the South End. The new building, which will be named for the benefactors, is part of a preliminary master plan that will also increase inpatient capacity and build a larger emergency and trauma center, according to Norman Stein, the hospital's vice president for development.

"This is all being driven off the reality that some of our current facilities are outdated and we don't have the capacity to continue to grow into the future," he said.

The Boston Medical Center board has created the Exceptional Care Without Exception Trust to undertake a capital campaign to raise $250 million or more. Like the facilities master plan, the budget to raise money to pay for it is also still preliminary, Stein said in an interview.