PENSACOLA, FL — Baptist Health Care (BHC) recently held a virtual groundbreaking event for the construction of its new health campus. The event was streamed via Facebook Live and YouTube Live. The event was held 71 years to the day from the groundbreaking of BHC’s flagship facility, Baptist Hospital.

“This new health campus will serve our region now and for generations to come. When Baptist Hospital opened, it was considered a beacon of modern health care,” said BHC President and CEO Mark Faulkner. “Think how far we’ve evolved since then. Our founders’ bold vision led to generations of quality care for our community. This transformational project will allow us to continue providing patient-centered care in a setting that offers the opportunity to evolve and adapt as the needs of our community change for generations to come.”

The new health campus represents the single largest investment in health care facilities, services, and programs in Northwest Florida’s history. It will provide a central location for clinical care, programs, and services that will be easier for patients to access. Equipped with innovative technologies for diagnosis and treatment along with a concentration of related services, the facility will provide a continuum of care that is more convenient for the patient and better optimizes resources. The health campus has a parklike setting, filled with heritage oaks, magnolia trees, and other native landscaping. Construction is expected to be completed in 2023.

The construction of a new campus was announced in June 2019. Since that time, preliminary work has been ongoing including finalization of financing, selection of construction partners, initial site preparation, and design planning. Brasfield & Gorrie serves as general contractor. Gresham Smith is the architectural firm responsible for design, Meadows & Ohly is program manager, and Smith Seckman and Reid serves as equipment and technology planner.

These companies were selected based on individual industry-wide reputations and extensive experience in designing, planning, and building modern health care facilities across the United States. Baptist is committed to engaging local, minority, woman, and veteran-owned companies and vendors in this project so that the benefits of this investment can be felt throughout the community.