Shands plans new medical campus next to existing rail line

[thelakelander]

Shands proposed medical campus is adjacent to the seldom used CSX "S" line, near the airport and River City Marketplace.  This move further enhances the ideal of using existing rail for mass transit.

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Shands plans new medical campus

The proposed Northside complex could one day house a hospital of up to 300 beds.

By URVAKSH KARKARIA, The Times-Union

Shands Jacksonville is expected to map out plans today for a Northside medical campus that could include a new hospital.

Shands officials remained tight-lipped about details and did not return calls Tuesday evening.

Three sources, including U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., who had been briefed on the project by Shands officials, however, laid out some details for the Times-Union.

The proposed complex, spread over 70 acres near the River City Marketplace, will be developed in phases. The first phase will involve medical offices staffed by University of Florida doctors. The second phase is expected to involve an ambulatory surgery center, with the potential for an up to 300-bed hospital, scheduled for the final phases.

Shands Jacksonville is the largest acute-care hospital in the city. The hospital is affiliated with the University of Florida College of Medicine and staffed by UF faculty physicians.

Details of how much the project will cost, the construction time frame, or how many jobs might be created were not disclosed.

full article: http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/082907/met_195414444.shtml

[Ocklawaha]

Wow, Lakelander, That gives me an inspiration... Why don't we build a freeway for buses from downtown right up I-95 to the Nassau County Line? We could spend say, a Billion Dollars? AND, we could blow right past this distraction of a hospital, Gateway, Airport etc...? What do you think?

Sure to be appointed to the JTA board now...

Ocklawaha

[thelakelander]

Interesting enough, by using the city owned S-Line ROW and CSX owned S-Line, through Panama Park, both Shands campuses would be directly connected by rail.

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Shands Northside campus plan could face hurdles

By URVAKSH KARKARIA, The Times-Union

Shands Jacksonville is plotting an ambitious Northside campus that could include a hospital and generate up to 1,000 jobs - hoping to pocket more health care dollars from the area's burgeoning population.

Hospital officials confirmed plans Wednesday for an up to $200 million campus, which will be built in phases over more than five years. The blueprint calls for an up to 300-bed hospital and is part of parent Shands HealthCare's more than $1 billion, 10-year capital plan that includes a new cancer hospital in Gainesville.

Shands' foray could nudge area competitors to make countermoves as they jockey to protect market share. And one industry insider wondered whether the proposed hospital might ever be built.

The first phase of the Shands North campus will include medical offices with specialties such as primary care, cardiology, orthopedics and dermatology, said Tim Goldfarb, chief executive of Gainesville-based Shands HealthCare. Down the road, the complex will offer ambulatory surgery and diagnostic services, and could eventually house a hospital.

"People go local for outpatient services," Steven Blumberg, a Shands vice president, said. "We're bringing those services to the neighborhood."

Extending physician services into the community makes business sense for Shands because the population is growing and needs physicians, said Cliff Frank, president of Healthcare Management Solutions, a Jacksonville-based managed-care consulting company.

According to one estimate by the Jacksonville planning department, the population on the Northside - the area north of the Trout and St. Johns rivers - is expected to spike from 67,025 in 2006 to 96,089 a decade later.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/083007/bus_195629047.shtml

[Charleston native]

I know this response is a bit late, but because it involves hospitals, I took a look at it. Any new developments on this project? The proximity to rail transit does provide a ton of potential for additional residential projects to be built in and around the campus.

[Jason]

I haven't heard anything.

[jandar]

Hopefully they wont have objections to their proposal like Baptists and St Vincents did in Clay County.

The whole area is growing, yet all hospitals are within a 10 mile radius of downtown. (except Baptist South, and no Orange Park Medical is a birth center/minor surgery, I would not trust them for anything else)

What gives?