Mayor D. C. Reeves is asking for help shaping the vision of the future for the Baptist Hospital Legacy Campus. At his presser this morning, the mayor talked about the vision being critical in securing state funding to help with the demolition of the old hospital in the West Moreno District.
On Thursday, Dec. 7, he is bringing in two people to facilitate discussions about the future of the property:
James Lima, JLP Development. James was hired by Baptist to do a lot of the visioning work in recent years and bring a wealth of experience and knowledge about this particular site, what the surrounding community has to say about the project and tons of context. Before we started discussing the future, I thought it was important as a community to lay out where we stand and what we know today. Baptist is partnering with the city to bring James in to discuss his findings, reports and thoughts on the project.
Gerry Bearousse, Bayou District Foundation. Gerry developed the Bayou District Foundation in New Orleans, an impressive housing/education/services community built on the site of a former public housing project. The results over 15 years are remarkable. I had a chance to tour the site and Gerry is familiar with our project. He will discuss what a purpose-built community is and its benefits; more than 120 communities have come to visit their project. He will discuss what they have done at the Bayou District Foundation in New Orleans and how he thinks that model can be applied here at the Baptist Hospital Campus. (Here is the link to learn more about the Bayou District Foundation: (https://bayoudistrictfoundation.com/)
Both will present beginning at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, December 7 at Bayview Community Center. RSVP is required to ensure space. Please contact my assistant Alex Smith at AlexSmith@cityofpensacola.com with an RSVP and any questions you may have.
