Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville and Wolfson Children’s Hospital announced plans Jan. 27 to build a four-story emergency tower addition at its Downtown Southbank campus on Prudential Drive.
The hospital will add 123,000 square feet to the existing facility.
The Downtown Development Review Board granted conceptual and final approval for Baptist, without conditions, on Jan. 16.
Construction will begin this year and will open in phases with a 2029 target date for completion, according to a news release. No construction costs were provided.
“Our main campus provides care for more emergency patients than any other hospital in the greater Jacksonville area,” said Michael A. Mayo, president and CEO of Baptist Health, in the release.
“We feel strongly, and our Board wholeheartedly agrees, that it is critical to ensure we not only provide the best quality of care but also make the experience the best it can be for our patients and caregivers alike. We challenged ourselves to do more than expand and renovate what exists today – instead, we are re-imagining the entire environment of care.”
Plans call for two distinct emergency rooms with waiting areas. There will a total of 100 emergency treatment rooms – 63 for adults and 37 for children – as well as three pediatric trauma rooms on the first floor. There will be imaging, labs and other resources to facilitate emergency care.
A endoscopy suite and expanded areas for pre- and post-operative heart care will be on the second floor.
Build out of an additional 68 inpatient rooms will be on the third and fourth floors and completed in later phases.
The Baptist Jacksonville and Wolfson Children’s Hospital ERs will remain open 24/7 during construction.