ST. CROIX — The planned replacement for the Governor Juan F. Luis Hospital has been reduced from eight stories to five, but redevelopment officials say the smaller design will preserve all of the services intended for the new facility. Hospital board members will have to wait until approximately November to see updated visuals of the redesigned structure.
Territorial Hospital Redevelopment Team Executive Director Darryl Smalls provided the update Wednesday while briefing members of the V.I. Government Hospitals and Health Facilities Corporation on several healthcare capital projects underway on St. Croix.
At Cassava Gardens, an off-site Castle Coakley facility being prepared to house JFL administrative staff and cold-storage functions during the hospital reconstruction, Mr. Smalls said the project is approaching substantial completion, with officials awaiting final utility approvals necessary to secure an occupancy permit. Once that approval is received, the building can receive permanent electrical service from the V.I. Water and Power Authority.
Before the facility can be occupied, however, it must also be furnished. A vendor has already been selected and officials are working to execute the contract. Mr. Smalls said there had been plans to use interim furniture while permanent furnishings are shipped to the territory, but promised more definitive information at the board’s next meeting.
The Cassava Gardens facility on St. Croix, being prepared to house JFL administrative and support functions as hospital redevelopment officials move toward substantial completion and permanent occupancy. (Credit: ODR)
“I know there was a…plan for interim furniture to be utilized until the permanent furniture arrives on island,” he said. “I will have more definitive timelines in terms of delivery.”
The Office of Disaster Recovery previously said Cassava Gardens is intended to provide office space and accommodate cold-storage functions currently housed in the old hospital building. ODR also identified the separate five-acre development east of JFL North as a 200-space parking and storage facility needed to support hospital operations during demolition and reconstruction.
Mr. Smalls said work on that five-acre project is also advancing after concerns from patients and staff about disruptions caused by heavy equipment were addressed. Exterior work and the building structure are “moving on greatly at this point in time,” he told board members, placing the current target for substantial completion at approximately October 28.
New Hospital Reduced From Eight Stories to Five
The most consequential update involved the permanent replacement hospital itself.
Mr. Smalls told board members that officials have approved a smaller building than previously envisioned. “We’re now looking at a five-story building,” he said, down from the earlier eight-story design.
Despite the reduction, he maintained that the new configuration would preserve “all of the services that are to be rendered within the new Governor Juan F. Luis hospital.”
One way designers are recovering space is by eliminating a dedicated floor that had been planned exclusively for essential mechanical systems. Instead, those systems will be distributed throughout different portions of the building.
Mr. Smalls stressed that the equipment will remain inside the hospital’s building envelope, protecting critical systems from hurricanes and other severe weather.
Board members asked when they would be able to see the redesigned facility. Those renderings and other updated visuals are not yet ready, Mr. Smalls said. “Hopefully, by November we would have something substantial that I’d be able to share.”
Hospital CEO Darlene JnBaptiste also sought reassurance that issues raised by staff during a recent meeting — including concerns involving service delivery and the patient experience — were being incorporated into the redesign.
Mr. Smalls said the redevelopment team had revisited the plans in response. “We went back to the drawing board to determine what would be feasible, and we’re going to provide that revision,” he said.
At the same time, he cautioned that accommodating additional requests must be balanced against keeping the project moving.
“We don’t want to do anything that’s going to delay the project, but at the same time, compromising to make sure that we do as much as has been requested by the staff,” Mr. Smalls said.
The redevelopment team is simultaneously working through the ancillary projects necessary to clear the existing hospital complex for demolition and make way for construction of the replacement facility. ODR announced earlier this year that a construction contract for the permanent JFL replacement had been executed and said Cassava Gardens and the five-acre parking and storage project were among the projects necessary to prepare the campus for demolition and construction.
“Everyone is in a full court press to make sure that this move or the demolition will not be inhibited,” Mr. Smalls told the board.
