Former surgical hospital in north Baton Rouge being converted into behavioral hospital

The former Greater Baton Rouge Surgical Hospital on Howell Boulevard in north Baton Rouge, recently purchased by a Texas firm, will be renovated into a 40-bed behavioral hospital.

Texas-based New Era Partners purchased the property, which includes the adjacent medical office building, last month for nearly $7.2 million, and plans to redevelop the property for use by Oceans Healthcare, a Plano, Texas-based health care company. While the surgical hospital is being converted to use as a behavioral hospital, the adjacent medical office building will be used for outpatient behavioral services. 

It’s currently unclear when work will begin at the location and how much renovations will cost, but the hospital conversion is expected to be completed by January 021, while health providers will have access to the medical office building in April. 

According to a press release by New Era, the firm completed the deal as a partnership with East Baton Rouge Parish, the mayor’s office, Baton Rouge Area Chamber and Oceans Healthcare. Oceans Healthcare also recently finished construction on a 32-bed hospital in Hammond, according to the release. 

In December, Oceans Healthcare went before the Metro Council requesting a $1.4 million performance-based incentive grant related to the revitalization of the hospital property. 

The property, located in Howell Place Business Park, was initially developed in the mid-2000s as a 10-bed surgical hospital with an adjoining 50,000-square-foot medical office building. The hospital, reportedly mostly owned by minority owners, shuttered after just seven years in operation, in late 2012, because of a lack in patient volume. Later efforts to revitalize and occupy the space would also eventually fail, leaving the hospital closed for years.