Jonesboro, Ark., to get new $200 million hospital

09/22/2009

By Candy McCampbell

NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jonesboro, Ark., will get a $200 million replacement starting next year after the city okayed rezoning of a 76-acre site for the 250-bed facility.

The new hospital is still in the schematic design stage, says William Tuttle, vice president of planning for Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp. of Memphis, which owns and operates the hospital with NEA Clinic.

Earl Swensson Associates of Nashville, the architect, has designed three other hospitals for Baptist.

The new hospital, with about 500,000 sq ft, would more than triple the current 138,000-sq-ft hospital which opened in 1976. The total bed count might be higher if hospital executives decide to build the space now and shell it in for future expansion.

Plans call for sending bids out next spring and starting construction next summer, Tuttle says. Site preparation could start earlier under a separate contract.

No decision has been made on whether to seek LEED certification for the new building, though executives are sensitive to the energy and environmental issues involved, he adds.

The new hospital would be located across U.S. 49 from an existing NEA clinic.

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