"Kids are generally healthier if their parents are healthier," said Donald F. Schwarz, deputy mayor for health and opportunity.

Schwarz said the idea came up in an unrelated conversation in the fall, when hospital officials asked if he knew of any property on South Broad Street to move their clinic, which now operates out of the former St. Agnes Hospital; the 30,000-patient practice is the fastest-growing of Children's 30 regional pediatric practices.

He did: The city's Health Center No. 2, near Morris Street just a few blocks away, was the second-busiest in the Philadelphia Department of Public Health's network of primary-care clinics. The roof leaked water, the original, 50-year-old windows leaked air, there weren't enough examination rooms, and the cost of renovations had been estimated at $7.2 million, just $3 million less than replacement.

And there might be possibilities for the outdated branch library and DiSilvestro playground on the same site.

"The possibility of integrating these three new facilities - health center, library, and rec center - would allow us to provide coordinated services that include much-needed health and wellness programming and literacy training," Nutter said in his prepared remarks to Council. "At the same time we will continue to expand the city's dental care, mammography, prenatal care, and a wide range of other children's and adult health-care services."

Under the conceptual agreement, the hospital will fully fund construction for a building that will house both clinics. The city will charge a nominal fee to lease the land.

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Children's Hospital and city unite to boost health care in South Philly