Pensacola is now the official owner of most of the old Baptist Hospital Campus.
Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves and Baptist Health Care CEO Mark Faulkner signed the papers to transfer the ownership of approximately 41 acres of the old hospital campus to the city of Pensacola on Sept. 29.
The city’s closing on the property is the culmination of two years of negotiations and lobbying between the city, Baptist Health Care, the Florida Legislature and Escambia County.
Reeves stated in a social media post that the redevelopment of Baptist Hospital is a rare opportunity for the city.
“To improve our housing affordability, we have to think big, not just what’s easy,” Reeves said. “A generational investment that will help preserve and lift up neighborhoods and Pensacola citizens for generations to come.”
Falkner said he hopes the donation of land to the city and the collaboration between the state and county will become a model for other communities.
“The donation of our legacy campus to the city of Pensacola reflects Baptist Health Care’s enduring commitment to the community we’ve proudly served for more than seven decades,” Falkner said. “We’re excited to see this property reimagined in a way that continues to benefit our entire region, and we’re appreciative of the city’s visionary leadership in shaping a vibrant future for this historic site.”
The city will launch a public outreach effort this fall to begin designing what will replace the hospital.
“As we take down these walls, we are not erasing history,” Pensacola City Councilman Delarian Wiggins, who represents the neighborhood, said. “We’re laying the foundation for hope. What once served as a place of healing will rise again as a place of living, reminding us that every ending carries within it the promise of a new beginning.”
Demolition work will begin in December
The city will move forward with demolishing most of the campus, including the well-known main hospital building and four medical towers that dominate the campus.
Reeves said last week that the demolition work will start in December.
Pensacola has tapped NorthStar Contracting Group to do the demolition work for $13.9 million, but other costs associated with the project could raise the total project cost to $16.4 million, while the project had a stated budget of $15.9 million.
Where is Pensacola getting the money?
Here’s the breakdown of the city’s sources of funds for the project:
That adds up to $13.9 million, which is enough to cover the demolition work itself, while the city will have to find ways to pay for other associated costs, like an independent owner’s representative for $990,000 and $1.5 million for a contingency reserve on the project.
Escambia County has tentatively pledged $500,000 in exchange for two of the buildings on the campus becoming a medical clinic and some type of senior community center. However, commissioners specified that the $500,000 cannot be used for demolition.
Reeves said the city is considering the county’s offer but is also open to other options, such as selling the properties to cover some of the cost.
“I’m all on board with the community center idea, with bringing health care in those partnerships, so that I’m not saying that we aren’t, or that we wouldn’t explore that,” Reeves said last week.
Any funds the city will need to allocate to the project to make up the difference would likely come from its Westside Community Redevelopment Area; however, this may mean delaying other Westside CRA projects.
The city also has a $5 million grant to be used for stormwater and commercial redevelopment of some areas of the property.
What will replace the old Baptist Hospital?
The goal of the project is to bring more affordable housing to the city that is anchored by some type of school or educational component, according to Reeves.
“We want to meet an education requirement,” Reeves said. “We want to meet a mixed-income housing crisis requirement, but what we don’t want to do is, yet again, in this project, have people in the community, the surrounding neighborhood, feel as if we didn’t do what we said we were going to do.”
Reeves said there will be “listening sessions” with the neighborhood that will be announced in the next month to hear what residents want.
“What are the needs that we can meet within the neighborhood? Food access, health care, all those things, and hear directly from the folks living in the community,” Reeves said.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola officially owns the old Baptist Hospital. What happens now?
Reporting by Jim Little, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
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