Officials at Birmingham’s Trinity Medical Center have announced plans to build a more than $315 million replacement hospital just off Interstate 459 in Irondale.
Currently located on Montclair Road between the Mountain Brook, Crestwood and Irondale areas, the hospital (formerly Montclair Baptist Medical Center) will be 40 years old in December.
"The typical useful life of a hospital is 40 years, and while existing facilities can be updated and renovated, this proved to be very expensive in our situation," said Vicki Briggs, Trinity CEO. "In addition, the growth patterns in our service area have changed in ways that make it difficult for many of the patients we serve to access the facility."
Discussions about what to do with the hospital’s need for renovation or relocation began in late 2005. At that time, Birmingham’s Baptist Health System (BHS), which owned and operated Montclair Baptist, formed a joint venture with Triad Hospitals Inc. to take over the majority role of running the hospital — renamed Trinity.
Trinity officials filed a certificate of need (CON) Nov. 3 with the State Health Planning and Development Agency for the replacement hospital, which will be near the Grants Mill Road exit off I-459. Although the actual site is yet to be finalized, it is expected to be about 100 acres.
The new site will be accessible to current patients as well as be better positioned to serve patients with emergency conditions, Briggs said, noting that the majority of the hospital’s patients live east of the current location.
She added that officials hope to have the specific location for the replacement hospital finalized by early 2007. Construction, which is expected to take 32 months, would begin at the new site as soon as the CON is approved. There is a minimum six-month waiting period for approval of the CON.
With 454 licensed private beds, the proposed hospital will have about 100 beds less than the current facility. It will also have 24 observation beds. The hospital will be nine stories with all major services on the ground level and will house patient beds on floors two though nine. There will also be physician office buildings located on the new campus, Briggs noted.
Once the replacement hospital is built, the current property and building will revert back to BHS. "Before making any decisions [about the site’s future], Baptist Health System will conduct a comprehensive re-use study to determine how the Trinity campus can best serve the community in the future," said Ross Mitchell, vice president of communications and government relations for BHS.
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