Construction Underway On New $35 Million Sacred Heart Hospital In Port St. Joe
Hospital scheduled to open by fall 2009, Serving Gulf and Franklin County residents
Port St. Joe, FL (July 21, 2008) - The St. Joe Company and Sacred Heart Health System announced today that vertical construction has begun on the new $35 million Sacred Heart Hospital located along Highway 98 in Port St. Joe, Florida. The hospital is being built on 27 acres donated by JOE.
Florida-based Greenhut Construction Company, Inc., has been hired to manage the construction process. So far, the construction team has completed preparation of the hospital building pad and initiated the site layout and surveying process. The installation of building piles begins this week.
"We are happy to have completed the first phase of work which prepared a suitable building pad for the facility, but we are very excited to be entering the active facility construction phase with the installation of building piles and related work for establishing the foundation," said Brian Matson, vice president of planning and strategy for Sacred Heart Health System.
Completion of the hospital is projected for the fall of 2009. Sacred Heart anticipates the facility will provide jobs to as many as 150 people.
"We are thrilled to announce the official transfer of property to Sacred Heart Health System for the new state-of-the-art hospital that will serve the Port St. Joe community," said Joe Rentfro, vice president and project manager for JOE. "Construction on the site will progress rapidly from this point on, now that the site preparation work is complete."
The St. Joe Company donated the land for the hospital site and also agreed to contribute $5 million over 10 years to support the hospital.
The new Sacred Heart Hospital will provide quality health care to the residents of Gulf and Franklin counties with facilities that include:
• A community hospital with private rooms, an emergency department and two operating rooms
• Laboratory services
• A medical office building to provide space for primary care and specialty physicians, as well as outpatient services
• A helipad to be used by Sacred Heart"s AirHeart helicopter, providing rapid transport for trauma patients and other critically ill patients.
About Sacred Heart Health System
Sacred Heart Health System has established itself as Northwest Florida"s leader in providing high quality health care to children and adults. Sacred Heart has been recognized for eight straight years by National Research Corporation as winner of the Consumer Choice Award as the most preferred health care system in Northwest Florida. Key services at Sacred Heart"s 458-bed hospital in Pensacola include: a Regional Heart and Vascular Institute, Children"s and Women"s Hospital, a Level II Trauma Center, a Cancer Center affiliated with M.D. Anderson Physicians Network, and a large network of primary care doctors and specialists that stretches from Foley, Alabama to Panama City Beach, Florida. In 2003, the Health System also added Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast, a 50-bed community hospital in Walton County, east of Destin. The Health System also operates the AIRHeart air ambulance with two helicopters serving Northwest Florida from bases in Walton County and Marianna. For more information, call 850-416-7000 or visit www.sacred-heart.org.
About JOE
The St. Joe Company, a publicly held company based in Jacksonville, is one of Florida"s largest real estate development companies. We are primarily engaged in real estate development and sales, with significant interests in timber. Our mission is to create places that inspire people and make JOE"s Florida an even better place to live, work and play. We"re no ordinary JOE.
More information about JOE can be found at our web site at JOE.com.
Forward-Looking StatementsStatements in this press release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward looking statements involve risk and uncertainty, and there can be no assurance that the results described in such statements will be realized. Such statements are based on current expectations and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or reissue any forward-looking statements. Risk factors that may cause the actual results to differ are described in various documents filed by the company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company"s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007.
Copyright 2008, The St. Joe Company. "St. Joe," "JOE" and the "Taking Flight" designs are service marks of The St. Joe Company.