St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Mo.

In what  seems to be a national trend,  as environmental aesthetics and population health take on more importance in healthcare, urban hospitals are boosting efforts to protect and promote their neighborhoods. Among the bigger recent examples are Stamford Hospital, in Stamford, Conn., and St. Luke’s Hospital,  which is working through a foundation, in Kansas City, Mo.

In various indirect and direct ways, they have  taken on the unusual role for hospitals   — residential real-estate developer.

The Kansas City Star reports that St. Luke’s Hospital “is building new residences, buying property and renovating and reselling old houses in the neighborhood in an effort to stabilize and improve”  the neighborhood.

“The work began 17 years ago when a foundation and trust associated with a Kansas City developer gave 93 area properties to St. Luke’s Foundation, which then founded the for-profit Westport Today. Efforts to improve existing houses in the area expanded in the last few years to building and selling new residential townhouses. Property near the hospital is slated for medical building construction.”