Baptist Hospital unveils vision

Asks for Council Resolution Three Days After Presentation
by Jeremy Morrison, Inweekly

Soon, Baptist Hospital will be relocating and leaving behind its sprawling campus in Pensacola’s West Moreno District. Local officials have big dreams for the property, and Monday night, the Pensacola City Council got a peek at Baptist’s vision for its old campus.

“It’s just an unimaginably beautiful idea that you have here,” Council President Ann Hill said after hearing about the hospital’s plans.

Baptist’s campus is on the western edge of the city limits, just off Cervantes Street. It’s huge, more than 50 acres, and represents what Baptist’s Vice President of External Relations Jen Grove described as a “transformational opportunity.”

“Maybe one of the largest redevelopment opportunities we’ll have in Pensacola,” she told the council.

Outlining Baptist’s vision, Grove described a community input process that pointed towards a collection of future uses for the property: affordable housing, retail, educational and job-training opportunities, and social and healthcare services. The public input also prioritized public spaces such as parks and the improvement of roadways in the area.

The input process consisted of several stakeholder meetings—both in-person and virtual—over the past few years. The participants included residents living in the area, neighborhood associations, local government, as well as education officials, law enforcement, community businesses and the faith community.

While Grove acknowledged that Baptist’s vision does not constitute “master design plan,” she said that the hospital would like to see most of the identified boxes checked in terms of future development. Grove told the council that the property could figure keenly into the city’s affordable housing goals, perhaps even exceeding the desired 500 units by nearly double. She also urged officials to purchase a spread of land flush with old-growth oaks as a park.

“This summer, we will be putting this campus up for sale with this redevelopment vision included,” Grove said, asking the council to consider a resolution indicating the city’s support of Baptist’s goals, specifically that it would purchase the 2.5 acres of natural property to be purposed as a park. She also request the city to consider reopening some of the street grid in the area.

“That would bring market confidence,” Grove told the council.

Mayor Grover Robinson told the council that a “ballpark” purchase price for the park property could be $2.5 million, though it “certainly could be more.” He added that a resolution of support would not be committing the city to anything formally—”until we know what the cost is to us.”

The council appeared supportive of Baptist’s goals for its property. It will consider the requested resolution during Thursday’s regular council meeting.

“It’s certainly not going to hurt us, and it’s going to help you and help us if we help you,” rationalized Councilwoman Sherri Myers.

Myers said she was particularly interested in the prospect of reconnecting the street grid.

“It gives us the opportunity to create a grid system that’s very environmentally appealing, because we’re starting with a blank slate,” she said. “If we’re building the grid and the stormwater infrastructure, we can do some really great things with that.”

Councilwoman Jennifer Brahier asked if Baptist would be considering any proposals to repurpose its existing buildings. Grove said that nothing was out of the question, but that repurposing wasn’t likely.

“There may be developers that have experience with redevelopment reuse,” she said. “We don’t want to cut ourselves off, or the community off, from any options.”

Mayor Robinson pointed to the old Sacred Heart Hospital property, a historic building in the East Hill neighborhood, as an example of the challenges of repurposing a hospital.

“I love it, it’s a beautiful old building, but no one outside of Ozone’s Pizza has been able to figure out how to make it commercially successful.”