By Tom Scanlon | Scottsdale Progress
The name of its healthcare rival does not appear in a Dec. 22 letter sent by HonorHealth attorney Brett Johnson to Erin Perreault, the City of Scottsdale’s zoning administrator.
But, in a request for Perreault to “interpret the Zoning Ordinance” regarding where a hospital can be built, as well as a subsequent appeal to what it called Perreault’s “arbitrary, capricious and/or an abuse of discretion” response, it is clear who HonorHealth was targeting: Banner Health.
Indeed, the epic battle of two healthcare heavyweights in North Scottsdale is heating up – with a legal spin, as HonorHealth’s lawyers have been taking nasty jabs at Banner.
For its part, Banner seems content to duck and dodge with defensive counters as it attempts to push its plans forward.
The Banner vs. HonorHealth match is taking place in the most crowded ring in Scottsdale.
The hotbed of Hayden Road and the Loop 101 has seen Cavasson putting up offices, restaurants and a hotel, Axon attempting an extraordinary live-work facility and ASM ready to build a software chip facility with hundreds of high-tech jobs.
The under-construction, $1 billion Optima McDowell Mountain Village – putting up the first of 1,300 apartments – that fronts Scottsdale Road caps this row of former desert land being flipped for commerce.
In the midst of a potential traffic jam of construction trucks and cranes, two hospitals are digging deep legal trenches for a potential battle.
The two healthcare giants are facing off at Hayden Road, with the freeway as the dividing line.
According to a Banner press release, it plans a $400 million, multifaceted project on the south side of the Loop 101.
HonorHealth, which has not announced plans for a huge chunk of land on the north side of the freeway, first launched a public relations campaign in the wake of Banner purchasing land across the 101 from land HonorHealth bought a year earlier.
Contending that another hospital is not needed – seconded by scores who emailed City Council – and could damage the labor pool, HonorHealth launched a legal skirmish, arguing the land Banner purchased is not zoned for a medical center.
With rezoning a hot issue, Banner has altered its original plan, which was to build a hospital first, followed by medical offices and other healthcare facilities.
In a presentation to Stonebrook neighbors, Banner said its first phase of construction will be Banner Scottsdale Health Center Plus, an outpatient medical office building. Plans were submitted to the Development Review Board in early March, with an estimated 18 months for construction.
“The Health Center Plus is happening first because it doesn’t require a zoning change,” David Leibowitz, a Banner spokesman, said. “Our hope would be to have it built by the end of 2025. At full build out, it will employ about 220 people.”
