Friday, November 7, 2008

Purchase ageement for Beech Grove under review

For the past two years, a committee of St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers leadership and Beech Grove officials, led by Beech Grove Mayor Joe Wright, have met to discuss new uses for the Beech Grove campus once inpatient care and other hospital services move to the Indianapolis campus.

Two of the main goals of this committee were to blend the community’s needs with the best future use of the Beech Grove campus, and that future re-use of the Beech Grove campus would conform to the values of Catholic principles and Franciscan values.

Recently, the hospital was approached by The Delamore Companies, a company with solid experience in redeveloping health-care facilities. We have executed a purchase agreement with Delamore and are now going through a required process of due diligence. This will be followed by an approval process through the Sisters of St. Francis Health Services, Inc. Last week, the City of Beech Grove held a meeting to present a timeline for a proposed bond sale for the St. Francis redevelopment project.

While these are challenging financial times for everyone, St. Francis and the City of Beech Grove are optimistic that the sale of the hospital could be final as soon as the end of the year. Once the sale is finalized, the hospital will lease the facilities from Delamore while the Indianapolis construction continues.