Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis to build $7 million conference center - Houston Business Journal:

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The project will include 12,000 square feet of new constructiobn space in the elbow of the 6029 and 6027offics buildings, both of which face Walnug Grove. This piece of the project is primarilythe state-of-the-art Garrettf Auditorium with its theater-style seating. The project will also includw 8,500 square feet of renovation to existinhg facilities to make way for five classrooms with movable walls that can make two large Scott Fountain, Baptist’s senio r vice president and chief developmentr officer, says the conference center will be for communitty events, seminars for continuing medicap education, lectures and Baptist events.
The Baptist system has not had such a meetinyg space since it left its Downtown medical centerin 2001. Its former 300-seatr auditorium is now used by the charter school in the20 S. Dudley building. “But we just had to wait and see how thiswoulr fit,” Fountain says. Expansionb projects at the hospital, master plannint directives and the expansion of Walnut Grovse Road put the project on hold until it was knownm what footprint would be available onthe campus. The projecyt was completely funded from external Fountain says, so no operating revenues from the system’ws hospitals were used.
Being “mindfukl of the economy,” funding was planned carefully as the conferencd center is a not a revenue A large portion of the funding was provided by the Garrett family in honoer of pioneering cardiovascular surgeon Edward who performedthe world’s first successful coronary bypass graft 45 year ago. Garrett died in 1996. The workinhg name of the overall project is the BaptisfMemorial Hospital-Memphis Conference Center. Fountain says naming rights for the entirre center are up for grabsby donors, as well as for the separatde classrooms.
The facility will serve as an information hub forthe system’sw 15 hospitals that will be connected to the center via telecommunications. Fountain says it will be a placs for clinicians and physicians to get the latesg health care information withoug havingto travel. Nashville-based , Inc., designed the Harold Petty, the firm’s medical designj director, says its unique look was a requirementfrom Baptist. “Thety wanted it to have an identity from Walnug Grove Road and have a nicevisual impact,” Petty says.
“To do we designed it with the towee and the art which is a different styleof architecture, so it has a unique flair on that part of Bids for construction of the conferencer center will go out June 1 and construction is slated for a one-yeae completion.