Memorial Hospital Jacksonville intends to expand medical services to northern St. Johns County and southern Duval County.
The hospital bought an almost 4.2-acre site from Gate Petroleum Co. for $3.71 million along Philips Highway on Feb. 27.
Memorial proposes to develop primary care and specialty medical care clinics on the site.
It adjoins 2 acres it bought from Gate in October for $1.8 million to develop an emergency center.
Philips Highway is U.S. 1, which continues into St. Johns County. The site is northeast along Philips Highway, south of Interstate 295 and north of St. Johns County.
“We have an opportunity to bring the first comprehensive medical office building to northern St. Johns County to complement an addition of a planned free-standing emergency center at the same location,” said Bradley Talbert, Memorial Hospital president and CEO.
The project comes as Memorial marks its 50th anniversary.
“Being a part of Northeast Florida for the past 50 years is testament to our commitment to continue to expand and provide services to meet the demands of our growing communities,” Talbert said.
The 4-acre site will include a medical office building that will provide multispecialty services and physician offices with the adjacent free-standing emergency center.
“We look forward to meeting the health care needs of our northern St. Johns and Duval County communities, providing them with access to excellent physicians and to excellent care right in their own backyards,” Talbert said in a statement.
Memorial anticipates the expansion to be operational by the end of 2020.
Memorial’s services include four emergency centers.
Its website shows that in addition to the emergency department at Memorial Hospital at 3625 University Blvd. S., the health care system operates stand-alone emergency centers in Mandarin, Julington Creek and at Kernan and Atlantic boulevards in the Atlantic West center.