The initial assessments show that Baptist Hospital’s campus in the E Street and Moreno Street neighborhood cannot be salvaged, including the hospital, medical tower, and an odd assortment of other buildings.
- A year ago, Baptist Hospital vacated its “legacy campus,” moving uptown to Brent Lane. The healthcare system announced bold plans for the site but didn’t implement any of them. The buildings have been shut down since late September 2024, and Baptist leadership is looking for the City of Pensacola to take them off their hands. Mayor D.C. Reeves has received funding from the Florida Legislature to figure out what to do. The structural assessment by Geosyntec was the first step.
“They did the environmental assessment and not just take Baptist information and assume that that’s all we need to know or anybody else’s information. Baptist did provide a lot, that was great, but I wanted the taxpayers to know what they were getting themselves into and make sure that it makes sense,” Mayor Reeves said on “Real News with Rick Outzen yesterday. “The report comes back, and the one-sentence version is all these theories of repurposing this building and all that are pretty shortsighted by the time you get them compliant, take the black mold that’s growing on the asbestos.”
He continued, “Once you do all of that, what value is there to skin the building to its bones? There’s not any financial value versus knocking it down and starting over again is ultimately what the report said.”
- A drive around the abandoned buildings shows that several of the outlying buildings have significant damage and haven’t been properly maintained by the Baptist for years. Several of the structures were offered to Community Health Northwest Florida, but the cost to make them usable was determined to be prohibitive.
The City has asked demolition companies to bid on the project, and Mayor Reeves realizes the cost will be significantly more than the $7 million allocated by the Florida Legislature.
“After we shortlist qualified demolition bidders, we’ll send it to bid, and we should get those bids back at some point in January. And when those come back, that’s going to be the big pivot – is it $10 million, is it $16 million, which we’ve procured? Is it 35 million?”
DIG DEEPER: Baptist did not give Geosyntec access to all the buildings. The consultants only tried to assess the potential re-use of the Main Hospital building, the Medical Towers, and the Behavioral Health Unit.
“Our site reconnaissance was carried out to observe general conditions of the buildings and did not include structural assessments or sampling. The site visit was facilitated by representatives of Baptist Hospital, but not all areas and spaces were visited during the reconnaissance as some areas were locked or otherwise inaccessible.”
Geosyntec’s observations found evidence of water leaks in the roofs, flooring, and interior walls. The consultants had several concerns about hazardous materials and said more thorough surveys would be required to establish the extent of ACM, PCB, lead paint, mold, and other hazardous material abatements required for building reuse.
- “The renovated structures would require significant investments in the replacement of HVAC and other utility systems as well as replacement of interior architectural finishes. Repairs and rectifications would be required for exterior structures such as roofs, windows, and exterior façade. In more practical terms, the net result is
that the structure would likely require to be stripped to the structural frame and replaced. Rebuilding around a structural frame that is already approaching 50 to 75 years of age would likely incur significant costs and may not be commercially viable.“
UNANSWERED QUESTION: What could have Baptist done to help salvage and repurpose these buildings?
Read Pensacola Beneficial Reuse Memo 27aug24
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