Best Buy founder’s charity offers NCH Healthcare System significant contribution.

Dick Schulze’s foundation donated $20 million to NCH Healthcare System’s new cardiac and stroke center.

Schulze announced Wednesday that his Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation gave Naples its largest donation, according to a recent article in the Naples Daily News written by Liz Freeman.

The NCH Downtown Baker Hospital Telford Building hosted an announcement event.

Naples must approve the roughly $200-million heart and stroke clinic there.

Telford would be demolished. Downtown campus and Telford building located between Fourth Avenue North, Eighth Street North, Second Avenue North, and Sixth Street North.

On May 24, 2023, Best Buy founder Dick Schulze and the Richard M. Schulze Family foundation donated $20 million to the cardiac center at NCH Baker Downtown Hospital in Naples.NCH officials claim the new heart facility will be state-of-the-art and eliminate the need for cardiac care out of town.

Schulze moved to Naples from Minneapolis 15 years ago and missed an emphasis on cardiological and neurological treatment.

After his father’s stroke, he was on a “watch list.”

Schulze said NCH’s Baker hospital heart center, which does 450 open-heart surgeries a year, was not “distinguished.”

On May 24, 2023, Dick Schulze addresses the crowd at NCH Baker Downtown Hospital in Naples. Schulze’s foundation gave $20 million to the hospital’s new heart unit.He said NCH management wanted to change that for fast-growing Naples.

Schulze said it would be Naples’ best.

NCH president and CEO Paul Hiltz called the gift one of the largest days in NCH’s 65-year existence.

Hiltz said Schulze informed NCH officials it requires world-class cardiac and stroke treatment, top-notch clinicians, and a great management team.

“We heard you,” Hiltz said. The hospital board and community appreciate you for your trust in NCH.

The hospital got two $20 million contributions for the heart and stroke project.

The stroke center’s namesakes, Naples philanthropists Diana and Don Wingard, donated $20 million in February.

On May 24, 2023, NCH Healthcare CEO and president Paul Hiltz addresses NCH Baker Downtown Hospital in Naples. Dick Schulze and the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation donated $20 million to the hospital’s new heart center at the ceremony.Former U.S. Rep. Francis Rooney boosted the Rooney Family Foundation donation from $8 million to $20 million a few weeks ago.

NCH Rooney Heart Institute will continue.

The R.M. Schulze Family Cardiovascular and Stroke Critical Care Center will name the cardiac center complex.

Schulze gave with conditions.After the announcement, Schulze indicated his gift depended on NCH partnering with Allina Health Minneapolis Heart Institute.

He said the deal uses the Minneapolis cardiac institute’s technology, clinical trials, treatment methods, patient results, and research.

Schulze invested in Minneapolis’ Abbott Northwestern Hospital, home to the Allina heart institute, the nation’s top heart and stroke center.

On May 24, 2023, NCH Heart Institute president Dr. Robert Cubeddu announces a $20 million commitment for the heart center at NCH Baker Downtown Hospital in Naples.“Why wouldn’t you leverage what that looks like, what that has meant and what that is?” he continued. Partnership is key. Don’t worry.”

In January, he proposed the cooperation to NCH and determined his family foundation would donate $20 million.

Allina Health officials were unavailable for comment.

NCH project next steps?For more than a year, Naples residents have debated NCH’s planned heart center, saying its size and height don’t match the neighborhood.

The five-story, 73-foot skyscraper surpasses the 42-foot city limit for commercial buildings.

Rezoning the site to public services circumvents the height limit. This zoning category allows higher buildings and all uses are conditional.

A new parking structure along Sixth Street North has also been criticized by residents.

NCH has proposed moving the garage 20 feet east with substantial landscaping. Sixth Street North would have a 60-foot buffer.

The Naples Design Review Board approved preliminary heart center blueprints in late April.

NCH must apply for public services zoning.

If the rezoning is authorized and NCH receives a conditional use permit, the hospital system must submit a site plan to city staff for administrative approval, which the council reviews.

NCH officials anticipate rezoning this fall.

Floor plans:The first floor would feature classrooms, educational space, a gift shop, and a coffee shop so heart patients’ family don’t have to trek to Baker hospital for coffee.The second story would have surgery rooms, waiting rooms, pre- and post-operative spaces, and a hospital corridor.The third story will house medical exam rooms and offices and link to the new parking garage.Each floor has 27 patient rooms.The open deck parking garage would be 42 feet tall with four storeys. 375 spaces.

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