TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) - At Thursday's Community Redevelopment Agency meeting, one of the items up for discussion is whether or not to approve funding for a new medical facility in the Southside community.
Big Bend Cares, a local organization that primarily provides HIV/AIDS education and support, is looking to build a 27,000 square foot medical facility on the corner of South Monroe and Magnolia.
The two-story facility would continue to provide HIV/ADS services but would also be a primary care clinic, provide basic laboratory testing services, dental services, case management services, peer adherence services, and a pharmacy according to the CRA agenda.
The CRA is looking to provide $1.5 million in funding to go to construction costs once the construction is completed. One major stipulation for the funding though is that the money must go to the construction costs of parts of the facility that help uninsured patients.
According to the agenda, there were concerns over the fact that the facility would serve insured community members even though there are agencies in the area that do help the uninsured. One of the solutions for this dilemma is that Big Bend Cares has offered to provide office/clinic space to Bond Community Health Care, Neighborhood Health Care and Apalachee Regional Health.
Big Bend Cares says in the agenda this will allow those agencies to provide convenient health care to their patients. The CRA wants its $1.5 million to go to building those office and clinic spaces as well as parking for uninsured clients if the funds are approved.
There was also concern expressed in the agenda that if the funding was approved, it would be going to a project that would not generate future property tax revenue because of its tax-exempt status. In exchange for the funding approval, Big Bend Cares would transfer land it owns on the 2200 block of South Monroe Street. The agenda says that land could be a candidate for a Southside Farmers Market or could be sold for other redevelopment projects.
Despite the fact that the project is designed to help with access to medical care in the community, the agenda mentions several other community benefits the project could bring to the area, one of which is that the new facility could attract other redevelopment to the area.
The total cost of the construction for the project is estimated to be $10 million dollars, according to the agenda. That does not include fixtures, furnishings and equipment costs. The construction is expected to begin in January of 2016 and to be completed in January of 2017.
