Gardendale announces new medical facility, restaurant

Published 9:00 am Wednesday, March 2, 2016

The City of Gardendale announced Tuesday that The University of Alabama Health Services has purchased five acres near Buffalo Wild Wings to create a medical buildings and, possibly, a 24-hour emergency room, according to Gardendale Mayor Stan Hogeland.

The new building, which will expand The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s services in the city, as well as increase access to testing for all UAB sites.

“This is an exciting partnership for the City of Gardendale,” said Gardendale Mayor Stan Hogeland. “Anytime a community can partner with a brand as well-respected as UAB is a positive move for that community. We see the creation of these new medical facilities as an investment in our city’s growth. We would anticipate enhancement of our overall quality of life, improved access to medical care, and the stimulated economic impact that comes with new jobs and new facilities.”

The first phase of the project is slated to break ground this summer. It will hold an approximately 20,000-square-foot medical office building with doctors, specialists, MRI and other diagnostic abilities.

The estimated $8 million building will be modeled after the Medical West Hospital freestanding emergency department in Hoover, which opened in April 2015.

UAB has also submitted a letter of intent to initiate the certificate of need to the state of Alabama for approval of a second building which would house a freestanding emergency room that would operate 24 hours a day.

Those certificates can take up to a year for approval, but Hogeland hopes the approval will come before construction begins on the first building.

“We feel pretty good that will get approved too,” Hogeland said. “Ideally they would build them both at the same time.”

Currently, the closest emergency room would be UAB downtown.

“There is a tremendous need in Gardendale and along the entire I-65 corridor in north Jefferson County to bring emergency medical services to the growing population of these communities,” said Will Ferniany, Ph.D., CEO of the UAB Health System.

“The medical office building and the freestanding emergency room will be important components in helping to alleviate some of the barriers to care that exist throughout the region,” he continued.

“There is no question it will save lives,” Hogeland said.

In addition to the fact that it will be more accessible to residents, Hogeland said he is excited that property that has just been sitting unused will now be developed and said there is still approximately 15 acres of commercial property available there.

The announcement comes on the heels of Hogeland’s announcement that the Shrimp Basket will be opening a location in Gardendale along Fieldstown Road.

The restaurant, slated to open in early summer, will be located in the new shopping center next to Burger King which will also house two other tenants that have not been announced yet.