MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Regional One hospital, which for years has planned a rebuild of its aging downtown hospital, may instead move to a new site on Union Avenue.
Shelby County Commissioners approved a request from the hospital Monday to purchase parcels around 495 Union Avenue, the former site of The Commercial Appeal, for about $24 million in total.
“We feel this is an optimal site for a new hospital and it gives us more flexibility to program the facility,” Dr. Reginald Coopwood, president and CEO of Regional One Health.
The Union site would be much less disruptive to the hospital’s current location, where demolition and construction were forecast to take 8 to 10 years, Coopwood told county commissioners.
Current plans called for the new Regional One hospital to be built on its current site on Jefferson, but this opportunity recently arose, Coopwood told commissioners.
A developer had planned to open a storage facility in the old Commercial Appeal buildings as soon as this March, and was about 70-80% complete, but agreed to halt their work before Regional One’s purchase, Coopwood said.
The site’s current owners bought the property less than a year ago for $3.7 million, county officials said.
The current hospital on Jefferson is on about 12 acres. Coopwood said the new site would be about 16 acres.
Both of the current buildings on The Commercial Appeal site would be demolished to build the new hospital.
The Commercial Appeal newspaper used chemicals in its production. County officials said environmental consultants told them abatement should not be a concern.
The items were not on the county commission’s original agenda, but were added during the meeting.
In 2023, the county commission approved $350 million for infrastructure upgrades at Regional One. The hospital has said in the past that the total cost for the hospital renovations would be around $1 billion.