New Baptist tower to change Southbank

[thelakelander]

by Max Marbut

Staff Writer

The Downtown skyline is in the process of changing again due to the continuing evolution of the Baptist Health System campus on the Southbank.

The project includes the demolition of the multi-story East Wing of the original hospital as well as the single-story Southeast Annex Building and the single-story MRI addition. The structures will be replaced with a 12-story tower that will serve adult patients as well as pediatric patients at Wolfson Children’s Hospital.

“We’re replacing a building that has exceeded its useful life,” said Burn Sears, with the Atlanta architectural firm of Stanley Beaman & Sears.

Since the 1950s, the campus has grown a building at a time depending on number of patients treated and services provided. The architecture of each building reflects its time period including everything from what was the norm a half-century ago to traditional office tower designs to ultra-modern curved metal and glass along the St. John River, said Sears.

“The campus is typical of any hospital complex that has sprung up over time,” said Sears. “Our task is to knit our project into the existing architecture and ensure there are no connectivity issues with the rest of the campus.”

One issue faced by the designers is the location of underground utilities on the campus, in particular a tunnel that connects the energy center to other buildings on the site.

In addition to the underground utility considerations, the patient care areas are designed to be convertible to meet the requirements of either adult or pediatric care. The project will also allow the expansion of the surgical and intensive care facilities at Wolfson Children’s Hospital.

“We don’t know what health care will be like in five or ten years. This is one of the more challenging projects our firm has ever taken on,” said Sears.

The structure will be clad in precast concrete, aluminum and glass and the final design will likely include an elevated garden area similar to the third-floor area at Wolfson Children’s Hospital.

“The design reflects the well-known healing effects of natural light. There will be lots of glass on the east, south and west faces,” said Sears.

Interior demolition has already begun and major elements will be removed without explosives, said Paul Singletary, director of plant facilities and construction at Baptist Heath Systems.

“We’ll take it down a piece at a time,” he said.

According to the application for conceptual approval submitted to the Downtown Development Review Board (DDRB) of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, the project can be completed by October 2010 if it begins in four months. The board voted Thursday to grant conceptual approval for the project.

Also approved by DDRB was another extension to a project that received final approval in April, 2006. A one-year extension of final approval was requested by the developer and granted in April, 2007 and another was requested and granted at Thursday’s meeting.

The project is a five-story, 26,840 square-foot mixed-use development at 214 W. Ashley St. in the Church District. The developer plans to convert the building into office and retail space and offer it as business condominiums to attorneys and legal service providers who wish to be located near the new County Courthouse.

Project architect Michael Dunlap said no changes would be made to the plans approved by DDRB two years ago and he’s confident the project can be completed since, “The courthouse is moving forward and we hope the market will rebound.”

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=50150

[Charleston native]

Excellent news. The hospital is poised to continue making its downtown location its central HQ. The design looks good, though it does resemble the trend that many hospitals have taken when designing a new tower.

[Seraphs]

Excellent news!

[reednavy]

Looks quite nice, hopefully it doesnt look like FL Hospital near downtown Orlando, yuck. It will somewhat hide I-95 and make it canyon-like driving thru it.

[copperfiend]

Looks good. They are definitely busy with the St Augustine Road expansion also.

[Jason]

Looks quite nice, hopefully it doesnt look like FL Hospital near downtown Orlando, yuck. It will somewhat hide I-95 and make it canyon-like driving thru it.

My wife and newborn son are at the Orlando hospital.  The new building by itself looks alright, however, up against the old one its hideous.


That corridor along I95 is going to look great once this new building is finished.  I wonder if a specific name for that area is in order.  Perhaps the "Healthcare District"?

Looks good. They are definitely busy with the St Augustine Road expansion also.

I pass it every day and can't believe how fast it is going up.  I need to get some more shots once I get the camera back from the wife. 

[Jason]

Also approved by DDRB was another extension to a project that received final approval in April, 2006. A one-year extension of final approval was requested by the developer and granted in April, 2007 and another was requested and granted at Thursday’s meeting.

The project is a five-story, 26,840 square-foot mixed-use development at 214 W. Ashley St. in the Church District. The developer plans to convert the building into office and retail space and offer it as business condominiums to attorneys and legal service providers who wish to be located near the new County Courthouse.

This is good news as well.  Hopefully the courthouse fiasco won't drag on and these guys can get the construction crews on site.

[thelakelander]

Images of the recent Orlando hospital expansions:

ORMC


Florida Hospital - Kind of resembles a hotel casino.

[Ocklawaha]

Lake, the one you labeled ORMC isn't... It's the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Children. That's where my grandson Lil' Robert was born, the room had a nice view of a rooftop and by night City Lights. It's only one block from Amtrak. ORMC is close but not connected, about 5-6 blocks of old housing, retail and mostly converted-house-doctors-office type places.

ORMC is double ugly... Winnie is beautiful, that entry is to the right of the global shaped atrium. In the entry is a water falls that is captured between the window layers so the effect is you walk in under the falls and the water runs down both sides. Yet the whole thing is behind glass from either side. The inside of the atrium looks for all the world like the frame of a zeppelin nose cone from the inside.

Ocklawaha

[thelakelander]

Winnie Palmer is a part of the ORMC campus.  It looks like a snubby version of the Renaissance Center to me, although it looks better than Florida Hospital's new tower.  I believe they've developed a master plan that will give that campus a more direct connection with the proposed commuter rail station nearby.  I'll see if I can find a sketch.

[thelakelander]

From JEDC Downtown Development Brief- June 2008

New Baptist Tower Going on Southbank

• Baptist Medical Center-Downtown is adding a new 12-story, 350,000 sq. ft. tower.  The new tower, named Wolfson’s Children’s Hospital Adult Tower, will replace the existing multi-story East Wing of the original hospital, as well as the  Southeast Annex Building and the MRI addition. The Downtown Development Review Board (DDRB) granted conceptual approval for the project in May.  Once construction begins, the project will take about two years to complete.

[vicupstate]

A children's hospital has an adult tower?

[Jason]

Now if they would only develop the parking lot between Palm Ave. and the RR tracks...

What a perfect location for a new tower and an integrated commuter rail stop.


... also, I wonder if the pedestrian bridge will continue out of the back of the new tower to maintain the direct connection between Wolfson's and Nemours?

[thelakelander]

From the model, it looks like it will.