The city issued a permit Sept. 30 for the $145 million ongoing construction of the seven-story Wolfson Children’s Hospital Critical Care Tower and the Baptist Arrival Tower on the Downtown Southbank.
A partnership of DPR Construction of West Palm Beach and Jacksonville-based Perry-McCall Construction is building the 223,131-square-foot development at the Baptist Medical Center campus at 800 Prudential Drive
The city has been issuing permits in phases. It previously permitted site and foundation work.
FreemanWhite, part of The Haskell Co., is the project architect.
Baptist announced in February 2019 it would build the tower. It said the $187 million project will become the front entrance to Wolfson Children’s Hospital and Baptist Medical Center. It expected completion in 2021.
Baptist said previously the tower will add 92 neonatal intensive care unit beds and 35 pediatric intensive care unit beds. It will bring Wolfson Children’s Hospital’s total to 298 beds.
It will link to the hospital’s parking garage on Palm Avenue with an elevated walkway.
One of the first major pieces for the Baptist Health Jacksonville Entry Building and Wolfson Children’s Critical Care Tower on the Southbank - a 110-ton pedestrian skybridge - was lifted into place May 23.
The 85-by-10 steel bridge will connect Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville and Wolfson Children’s Hospital to Baptist’s P2 parking garage along Palm Avenue.
When parking in the garage, visitors and patients can use the skybridge to enter the hospitals without walking on the street.
“We want to ensure patients and visitors experience a welcoming introduction to our downtown campus. Parking is often the first interaction with our campus, even prior to entering the facility,” Michael A. Mayo, president of Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville, said in a news release.
“By connecting our parking garage to the future entrance of both our adult and pediatric hospitals, we are standing true to our commitment of connecting the community to comprehensive health care,” he said.
Baptist Health announced in February 2019 it would begin construction on the Wolfson Children’s Critical Care Tower to become the front entrance to Wolfson Children’s Hospital and Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville.
“This new building will be our new ‘front door,’ essentially reorienting our entire campus,” Mayo said then.
“Wolfson Children’s Hospital is receiving more and more critically ill infants and children from cities well outside of Jacksonville,” Wolfson Children’s Hospital President Michael Aubin said then.
“It is our responsibility to ensure that our young patients are met with world-class care in the most advanced facilities,” Aubin said.
The tower will integrate with Baptist Jacksonville’s high-risk obstetrics and neonatal delivery center.
It will include private patient/family NICU suites with space to sleep two parents, full showers and bathrooms and separate parent wardrobes.
Wolfson Children’s Hospital is a part of Baptist Health. Wolfson Children’s pediatric institutional partners comprise Nemours Children’s Specialty Care, Jacksonville; the University of Florida College of Medicine—Jacksonville; and Mayo Clinic Florida.
