NYU Langone Receives $75M Koch Donation for West Palm Facility
By Julia Echikson February 22, 2024 4:28 pm
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Billionaire widow Julia Koch has gifted $75 million for a new NYU Langone Health medical complex in Downtown West Palm Beach, the hospital chain announced.
The donation will go toward the construction of an eight-story facility, to be called Julia Koch Family Ambulatory Care Center, which will feature 77,000 square feet of clinical space at 324 Datura Street, located between the South Dixie and Federal highways.
The donation comes less than a month after New York University paid $33 million for the 0.6-acre site, which holds a 68,811-square-foot medical office. Plans for the new location, expected to open in 2026, about match plans submitted by the seller, Morning Calm Management, which were approved before the sale.
The upcoming medical facility — which will span 188,000 square feet in total, including a four-story parking lot — will house 50 physicians and offer radiology and imaging services, two operating rooms for ambulatory surgery, and two endoscopy suites.
The New York-based hospital network, associated with NYU, operates an outpatient center nearby at 101 North Clematis Street. It first established a presence in Florida seven years ago.
The donation came through the Julia Koch Family Foundation, which was established last year. Koch, who’s worth an estimated $60 billion, inherited the bulk of her fortune after her husband David Koch died in 2019. The late husband, a major Republican donor who funded the Tea Party movement, ran conglomerate Koch Industries, one of the largest private companies in the country, alongside his brother Charles Koch.
The widow resides part time in Palm Beach, the uber-wealthy island across the Intracoastal Waterway from West Palm Beach.
“Palm Beach County is full of New Yorkers,” Kenneth G. Langone, chair of the NYU Langone Board of Trustees, said in a statement, “many of whom now live there year-round. For the rest of us it’s a home away from home — with one big deficit: a lack of comprehensive care from the full spectrum of NYU Langone doctors, who offer unmatched quality in every specialty.”
“Julia understands that need and has been an incredible partner, one who’s been all in at working toward our shared vision,” the executive added.
Julia Echikson can be reached at jechikson@commercialobserver.com.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Julia Koch was married to Bill Koch. She was married to David Koch.
