Developments like this and the planned University hospital expansion downtown are leading me to believe that SA's biggest medical building boom is still ahead
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Hospital vision for Brooks will come true
Web Posted: 07/03/2008 01:04 AM CDT
By Travis E. Poling
Express-News
A deal three years in the making will put a $100 million hospital project at the heart of Brooks City-Base, where it will be the largest tenant.
Baptist Health System purchased 28 acres to build a hospital and two office buildings that Brooks development officials hope will turn a large part of the former Air Force base into medical and biotech magnet that will reinvent the South Side.
Southeast Baptist Hospital at Brooks City-Base and two accompanying medical office buildings will represent hundreds of medical jobs and draw more medical businesses in the future, Brooks Development Authority CEO Donald Jakeway said.
“This project with Baptist is going to redefine the South Side,” Jakeway said.
Brooks City-Base is selling and leasing parts of the 1,400-acre former military base as the Air Force moves out through 2011. DPT Laboratories has a major research facility there with nearly 150 employees.
“John Feik's project got us started,” Jakeway said of the head of DPT Laboratories.
The $5 million paid for the land will be pumped back into road building on Brooks City-Base. City and county property taxes paid by Baptist also will fund road projects, including the extension of South New Braunfels Avenue through Brooks.
Baptist also has an option to buy 22 acres of connected land for development of other ancillary medical services.
The Brooks City-Base master plan sets aside dozens more acres adjacent to the Baptist complex for future health care, biotech or pharmaceutical companies, said Andrew Zapata, director of planning and development for Brooks.
“I think it's going to be a phenomenal site,” said Mike Zucker, chief development officer of the Baptist Health System. He said he thinks it will spur additional medical development, a common occurrence in areas where hospitals are built.
Baptist first said in June 2005 that it was scrapping plans to expand a now 35-year-old hospital on East Southcross Boulevard in favor of building a new state-of-the-art medical facility from scratch.
But then the process slowed. Baptist wanted to build on a piece of land bordered by Southeast Military Drive and still populated by Air Force personnel. It's the highest point on the South Side, but contains stands of large trees and would need 20 feet graded off the top to make it level enough for large buildings, Jakeway said.
Instead, the Brooks Development Authority offered Baptist a parcel with no trees or buildings and with easy access from two main roads under construction.
Baptist eventually agreed, and once the City Council established a tax zone to create funding for roads in the development, the deal came together.
District 3 Councilwoman Jennifer Ramos said easy access to quality health care will be a boon to the Southeast Side.
“I am very proud to be a part of this project that will provide such an essential service in our community as well as bring much needed jobs to District 3,” Ramos said.
Jakeway said the Baptist deal will help them aggressively market Brooks City-Base for development.
“This is going to make the phone ring,” Jakeway said.
Baptist will now begin the process of researching how many rooms and staff are needed.
“We've taken this long to acquire the land. Now we're going to move as quickly as we can,” Zucker said.
Initially, Baptist intended to build a hospital with extensive outpatient services, 175 inpatient beds and room to expand to 400 beds. The hospital could hire as many as 300 people when it opens, but a start date or completion date haven't been determined.
The estimated cost of the project three years ago was $100 million or more. Since then, steel and concrete prices have risen dramatically and the cost of labor has increased, so the ultimate price tag could be higher, Zucker said.
The existing Southeast Baptist will remain part of the hospital system, but how it will be used hasn't been determined, Zucker said. A surgical center, free-standing emergency department or satellite hospital are among the ideas being considered.
Baptist officials met Tuesday with doctors practicing at Southeast Baptist to let them know the plans for the new hospital finally were moving forward.
“A lot of them were relieved,” Zucker said. “They were worried it wasn't going to happen.”
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