By Andreas Butler
For Hometown News
Halifax Health has some prime property it isn't using, but hospital officials hope someone will use it.
The vacancies include the Halifax Health Atlantic campus building, 400 N. Clyde Morris Blvd. in Daytona Beach and 78 acres of undeveloped land south of the building.
The Atlantic building will be demolished, but there are no immediate plans for the undeveloped land.
"There are no definite plans for the two and a half acres that will be cleared after the demolition or the 78 acres of open undeveloped land at the time," said Byron Cogdell, Halifax Health public relations specialist. "Our main concern is tearing down the Atlantic building to add to the other undeveloped land."
The Atlantic Campus is an old hospital that has been there for 50 years, but is no longer in use.
"We acquired it and used it for years until we pulled out our services about three or four years ago," Cogdell said.
Nine contractors and 13 subcontractors were on hand for a meeting Jan. 3, hoping to bid for the demolition of the building.
"The interest at the meeting was very high. We have had the bids open for the past six months. We have also received dozens of inquiries about submitting bids since then. The deadline to submit bids (was Jan. 23)," Cogdell said.
Once the bid is awarded, demolition could start as early as this month.
"We hope to have the building demolished as soon as possible ... hopefully as early as next month. The contractors in their proposals will have estimated start and stop times," he said.
Halifax Health is still optimistic about interest in the 78 acres of undeveloped land.
"The land is basically a wooded area with some wetlands. We have had interest and several proposals for the land, but there are no plans for it." Cogdell said. "Nothing has been decided and there haven't been any preparatory meetings either. Our biggest concern is that if we were to sell the land that we could sell all of it instead of part of it."
While there is nothing concrete for the property, there is a general framework, Daytona Beach Planning Director Rich Walton said.
"They do have a master plan which allows them to use the land for something more than just medical use if they wish to do so. That could be apartment use or commercial use, but at the time there is nothing definite," Walton said.
For a developer, the land wouldn't have any environmental holdbacks.
"We have no environmental concerns. We send out surveyors every two years and we haven't had anything that has been pointed out as a threat to developing the land," Cogdell said.
In the past there have been issues of stray cats and homeless people on the land.
"We have tried to have it cleared out. The problem with the cats is that the homeless people and others have gone there and fed them, which has contributed to that problem," Cogdell said.
"That is a liability issue with them being the land's owners. The police may have had some problems there with that but I'm not sure," Walton said.
Halifax Health owns and operates several medical care facilities in the Daytona Beach area, including: Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Halifax Medical Center in Port Orange, Halifax Hospice of Volusia County, Halifax Center for Oncology, Healthy Communities, Halifax Health Community Health Centers, Halifax Center for Family Support and Sports Medicine, and Halifax Health Behavioral Center in Daytona Beach.