50-bed hospital to build on Oak Hill Golf Range site
February 24, 2017
Henry Gilmore, a land use attorney with Dubois Bryant & Campbell, gave a presentation showing renderings of the plans for the 11-acre property for the hospital, with an adjacent 3-acre lot at 5251 US Highway 290 West which will feature a medical office building and a parking structure.
by Ann Fowler
Representatives of Baylor Scott and White announced at a meeting of the Oak Hill Neighborhood Planning Contact Team their intention of building a 50-bed full-service hospital on the site currently occupied by the Oak Hill Golf Range at 5243 US Highway 290 West.
Henry Gilmore, a land use attorney with Dubois Bryant & Campbell, gave a presentation showing renderings of the plans for the 11-acre property for the hospital, with an adjacent 3-acre lot at 5251 US Highway 290 West which will feature a medical office building and a parking structure.
The hospital, Austin Medical Center, will be 86,600 square feet. The complex will be built in two phases, starting in about a year. If all goes as planned, the hospital would open in the first quarter of 2019.
- Michael Ussery of Highway 290 Golf, LP, said he has a letter of agreement to sell the property. The timeline of the sale depends on the plans receiving city approval.
Ussery said he has owned the property since 2005, but it has been a driving range for about 30 years. “Inevitably something was going to be done with this property,” he said. He liked the amount of green space included in the design.
Of course Oak Hill already has a hospital. Seton Southwest, about 4 miles west on US 290, is an acute-care hospital offering surgical, obstetric and rehabilitation services.
Commander Michael Benavides, public information officer with the Austin-Travis County EMS, said how helpful the new hospital will be in emergencies depends on the services available: trauma, stroke, cardiac. But he added, “In general, the addition of full-service hospitals can provide advantages to both patient populations and EMS systems.”
Traci Anderson, secretary of the Oak Hill Youth Sports Association that plays at the Oak Hill ball fields less than two miles down US 290 West, said, “We do have the occasional emergency issue that requires ambulance service to the complex. I can think of at least two that happened during my sons’ games in the past four or five years.”
She added, “In many emergency situations, nearest is best, so I suppose it that regard it could be beneficial.”
Matthew Nelson, principal of Clint Small Middle School, said losing the driving range may impact plans for a school golf team. But he also recognized the benefits of having a hospital within a mile of the school. “I like the idea of our Medical Detectives class being able to visit the hospital and be back on campus in no time at all,” he said.