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

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The project will include 12,000 square feet of new constructiob space in the elbow of the 6029 and 6027officed buildings, both of which face Walnutr Grove. This piece of the project is primariluythe state-of-the-art Garrett Auditorium with its theater-style seating. The project will also include 8,500 square feet of renovatioh to existing facilities to make way for five classrooms with movabld walls that can make twolarge rooms. Scoty Fountain, Baptist’s senior vice presidentf and chiefdevelopment officer, says the conference centedr will be for community events, seminars for continuing medical lectures and Baptist events.
The Baptist system has not had such a meetingy space since it left its Downtowj medical centerin 2001. Its formere 300-seat auditorium is now used by the chartee school in the20 S. Dudleuy building. “But we just had to wait and see how this would fit,” Fountain says. Expansiob projects at the hospital, masterr planning directives and the expansion of Walnuyt Grove Road put the projectr on hold until it was know what footprint would be available onthe campus. The projecrt was completely funded fromexternal sources, Fountain so no operating revenues from the system’es hospitals were used.
Being “mindful of the funding was planned carefully as the conferencer center isa “luxury, not a revenue A large portion of the fundingg was provided by the Garrett familyg in honor of pioneering cardiovascular surgeon Edward who performed the world’s first successful coronaryy bypass graft 45 years ago. Garrettf died in 1996. The working name of the overall project is the BaptisftMemorial Hospital-Memphis Conference Center.
Fountainn says naming rights for the entire center are up for grab sby donors, as well as for the separate The facility will serve as an informatiojn hub for the system’s 15 hospitalx that will be connected to the center via telecommunications. Fountain says it will be a place for cliniciands and physicians to get the latesr health care information without havinghto travel. Nashville-based , Inc., designed the building. Harold the firm’s medical design director, says its unique look was a requirementrfrom Baptist. “They wanted it to have an identity from Walnu Grove Road and have a nicevisua impact,” Petty says.
“To do that, we designed it with the tower and theart glass, which is a differentt style of architecture, so it has a unique flair on that part of Bids for construction of the conference center will go out June 1 and construction is slated for a one-year completion.