New $60 million health services, public health center coming for Stanislaus County
In the last five years or so, it looked like Stanislaus County would be moving its Health Services Agency away from its longtime home at 830 Scenic Drive.
But county leaders have concluded the best place for building a 55,000-square-foot health services administrative center is the old county hospital site on Scenic Drive.
Early this week, the county Board of Supervisors approved moving forward with demolition of dilapidated buildings at the Scenic campus — a job that could cost $10.3 million by itself.
The county plan calls for constructing the new building on Scenic for health services administration, support staff and public health programs.
The estimated project cost is between $56.9 million and $69.3 million when the demolition costs are included.
County hospital facilities at the Scenic campus date back as far as the 1930s. Some locals refer to the complex as the “county hospital,” even though the former Stanislaus Medical Center closed in 1997.
County health services and public health staff have used the former hospital buildings for offices and other needs. The Health Services Agency has overseen primary care and specialty medical clinics for tens of thousands of low-income county residents and downsized in 2019 when clinics in Ceres, Turlock and Hughson were outsourced to nonprofit health providers.
A major water leak in a main building in 2016 prompted the county to move staff from the Scenic campus to the County Center III complex off Oakdale Road. Today, public health staff and administrative offices are at four locations in Modesto and Salida.
The building project would again consolidate services at the Scenic campus. The county’s Paradise Medical Office, on Paradise Road, McHenry Medical Office, on Woodrow Avenue, and the Family and Pediatric Health Center, on Scenic Drive, will remain at their current locations.
Mary Ann Lilly, county health services managing director, told supervisors this week that other facility failures have occurred at the antiquated Scenic campus, and only a couple weeks ago, a sinkhole created a safety hazard.
Lilly said a new administrative building should help with recruiting and retaining professional staff.
Supervisors agreed the dilapidated buildings on Scenic are beyond repair.
“We have run out of duct tape and bailing wire,” county board chairman Terry Withrow said, adding that he is eager to see a final budget and designs for the building project.
The county has a list of nine buildings that would be demolished, such as the Central Unit, three buildings with former patient rooms, a former public health building, a business office and a warehouse. The county expects to run into abatement issues for asbestos and other hazardous materials in the older structures.
In addition, crews will have to deal with a spaghetti-like network of underground utilities, county staff said.
Private development was considered
County leaders considered private development options at the Scenic complex. The consulting firm Gensler Inc. did a study evaluating a commercial project and a residential development with 96 units of affordable housing.
A county staff report said the hypothetical projects did not pencil out, largely because of the high costs for demolition and extensive site improvements. The county’s cost would outweigh the prospective revenue.
The county hopes to build the administrative facility without going into debt. The board has reserved $20 million in CARES Act money and also has identified $33.4 million from Health Services Agency fund balance, public facility fees and the Tobacco Endowment.
Supervisors this week approved a $712,000 change order for Dewberry Architects to finish the programming for the facility and prepare a demolition plan.
County staff are expected to come back with a facility plan and financing strategy.
This story was originally published July 1, 2022 at 6:00 AM with the headline "New $60 million health services, public health center coming for Stanislaus County."
