Florida medical building slated for demolition

A multistory former hospital and medical building in Rockledge, Florida, could soon be facing demolition, with officials seeking possession of the building as the first step in a demolition and redevelopment effort.

The Rockledge Regional Medical Center closed its doors this April, according to Florida Today, which also lays out a timeline proposed by Rockledge City Council to redevelop the land beneath the hospital. Rockledge is located near Florida’s east coast, about 50 miles east of Orlando.

According to a listing from Loopnet, the vacant building sits on about 8.1 acres of land, and a photo accompanying the listing shows what appears to be a four-floor, spread out concrete structure.  

The city’s timeline calls for the building to be dismantled by the end of this year, with the process starting as soon as October, according to Florida Today.

The Rockledge Regional Medical Center once was a 298-bed facility that has fallen into disrepair, with Florida Today citing “a major bat infestation.”

The hospital center reportedly became financially distressed when it was part of Dallas-based Steward Health Care LLC, which filed for bankruptcy last year. Although the property was then purchased by regional medical consortium Orlando Health, the firm concluded it could not salvage the building, according to Florida Today.

The report indicates that plans call for Orlando Health to transfer the property to the city of Rockledge, citing Rockledge City Manager Brenda Fettrow.

The media group says the property will remain zoned for medical development only, and that “there is little interest in changing those parameters.”

An April report from Space Coast Daily says the Rockledge site has a history of treating patients that traced back nearly 85 years, when a 10-bed private hospital was founded by Eugene Wuesthoff one of the town’s residents.

The medical establishment grew over the decades and continued to carry the Wuesthoff name, until the Wuesthoff Health System was sold to Florida-based Health Management Associates Inc. in 2010, according to the report. Seven years later, the hospital was acquired by the ill-fated Steward organization.