It appears that Spohn Memorial will soon go on the market. The Nueces County Hospital District voted this week to sell it, along with the properties around the hospital that are also owned by the district.
All of the land is on or around 2606 Hospital Boulevard, in the area of Morgan and Buford. According to a report submitted to the district board, the properties are appraised at $3.92 million.
The sale would not include the Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Clinic that opened nearly two years ago. The clinic was part of CHRISTUS Spohn’s master plan to reorganize its health services. That plan also included the eventual closure and demolition of Memorial.
For now, CHRISTUS Spohn still runs its behavioral health services out of Memorial, along with an emergency department with ten beds. A spokesman for the hospital system says those operations will continue, until a sale happens.
The hospital district will accept bids for the properties. KRIS 6 News has confirmed that one interested bidder is the Ed Rachal Foundation. Paul Altheide of the foundation says it started asking about the property years ago. He says the foundation’s goal is to hopefully bring about an improvement there and make sure that whatever replaces the hospital will be positive for that neighborhood.
There is a deed restriction that the land be used for medical facilities. Altheide says that still includes a lot of possibilities for development, although the foundation doesn’t have exact plans yet.
County commissioners still have to give final approval for the sale to move forward. A vote on the issue is on the agenda for Wednesday’s commissioners court.
