Plans to redevelop the Brackenridge medical center and the 14.3 acres took a major step forward last week, according to a recent Community Impact story.
The board of Central Health, the public entity tasked with improving health-care access for the area residents, has approved a redevelopment plan for the campus and is expected to start soliciting proposals this spring, the newspaper reports.
There have long been plans to demolish the Brackenridge medical center currently occupying the tract, which the state leases to Central Health, and replace it with a medical school adjacent to the Dell Medical School currently being built across the street. The paper spoke with Central Health board member Clarke Heidrick, who said the decision was made partly to move away from the outdated model of having a big city hospital downtown, which is now hard to access for many Austin residents.
The redevelopment would fit an "Innovation Zone" model for the area, an iniative first floated by former Austin mayor Lee Leffingwell and now led by Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, the paper added.
Under the current scenario, Central Health would lease the land to a master planner to develop, according to the story; the approved plan calls for a mix of residential, retail, office, and hotel spaces, as well as medical uses.
• New development to replace Brackenridge [Community Impact]