Baptist Health intends to develop a 40-acre medical office campus in North Jacksonville at northeast Dunn Avenue and Interstate 295.
Michael Mayo, hospital president of Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville, said the first phase will include a free-standing emergency center, medical office building, imaging and lab services, a Baptist Primary Care office and specialists’ office space.
That first phase is expected to be completed by the end of 2016.
The second phase may include an ambulatory surgery center, but no timeframe has been determined for that.
Mayo said the complex is designed to “meet the growing needs of families in North Jacksonville.”
“Since Wolfson Children’s Hospital is the regional pediatric care provider, we want to ensure we create convenient access to the very best care for children and families,” Mayo said.
Wolfson is based at Baptist Health’s Downtown medical center campus.
The North Jacksonville complex will include two 24/7 emergency centers at the location, one for adults and one for children.
It will be staffed by a board-certified emergency medicine physician from Baptist Medical Center and a pediatric emergency medicine physician affiliated with Wolfson.
Mayo said a budget estimate has not been defined because the scope has been changing. He said Baptist Health will start the bidding process when designs are completed.
He said he doesn’t anticipate an inpatient hospital at this time.
Baptist Health has not yet submitted plans to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. No Certificate of Need is required, although the agency would review plans for an off-site ER.
Bill Lee, director of property management at Baptist Health, petitioned the St. Johns River Water Management District this month to determine the extent of wetlands and other surface waters.
The 61.26-acre property is called the Plaza North Development in the Water Management documents.
The land has been used as a pine plantation for the uplands and the wetland has been relatively unchanged, according to those documents.
Baptist Health owns the land. Of the site, 40 acres can be developed, Mayo said.
North Jacksonville has been attracting interest by major medical centers. UF Health Jacksonville recently opened east of Jacksonville International Airport in the River City Marketplace area. Its Water Management District plans showed a 69.6-acre site.
UF Health North opened its outpatient facility and medical office complex Feb. 12 at 15255 Max Leggett Parkway. Spokesman Daniel Leveton said ground will be broken and the foundation laid for a 92-bed inpatient hospital in late 2015 and expects it to open in mid-2017.
That site is 8 miles northeast of Baptist’s Dunn and I-295 property.
Baptist Health System comprises five Northeast Florida hospitals: Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville on the Downtown Southbank; Baptist Medical Center South in the Bartram area; Baptist Medical Center Beaches; Baptist Medical Center Nassau; and Wolfson Children’s Hospital in the Southbank campus. Baptist Heart Hospital also operates at the Downtown complex.
Baptist Health operates 46 primary care centers as far north as St. Marys, Ga., west to Callahan and south to Fleming Island and Ponte Vedra Beach.
It also plans to build another free-standing emergency center along Town Center Parkway near St. Johns Town Center. The first opened in 2013 at the Baptist Clay Medical Campus on Fleming Island.
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