NYU hospital project to be done by summer. (Design and Development).

Jeffrey M. Brown Associates began construction on the new NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases' Center for Children. The facility will provide comprehensive, interdisciplinary treatment for children and adolescents with complex orthopedic and neurological conditions.

The 60,000-SF project will transform the first, third, and fourth floors of the existing hospital into a specialty outpatient clinic. The first phase of the renovation is scheduled to be completed by the summer of 2002. NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases' Center for Children is located on E. 17th St. in Manhattan. $4.6 million of the total $9 million cost for the facility is devoted to the construction.

"The Center for Children's welcoming environment can help re-establish a patient's self- esteem and respect," said David S. Feldman, M.D., and director of the Center for Children. "I hope that the center becomes a standard for other institutions across the country and around the world."

Jeffrey M. Brown Associates is managing the construction, which will create a new reception area, and rooms for exams, consultations, and physical/occupational therapy. An interactive play area and multi-media center will add to the "child friendly" environment being created.

"We also are creating a new entrance and elevator separate from the rest of the hospital, to help avoid the children having unnecessary contact with adult patients and other hospital units," said Jeffrey M. Brown, CEO of Jeffrey M. Brown Associates.

"We are very pleased to be involved with this project, and to have an opportunity to create a comfortable place for children to come for treatment."

JBM Associates is also near completion of a $2.9 million renovation of the patient rooms on the 12th floor of the hospital and a radiology suite on the fifth and sixth floors.