Baton Rouge General Medical Center has been given a permit to begin construction on its planned outpatient surgery center on Bluebonnet Boulevard.
The surgery center—called the Baton Rouge General Center for Health—will be located in a renovated facility on Summa Avenue, previously occupied by Ochsner Health System. It will include a six-suite outpatient surgery center, as well as physician offices, clinic space, outpatient rehab services and BRG’s graduate medical education programs.
As part of the renovation, according to the permit, contractors will renovate some 11,000 square feet of existing space while adding an additional 11,700 square feet on the first floor of the building. Construction will start Monday, says a hospital spokeswoman, and will conclude in approximately one year.
BRG’s plans to renovate and occupy the facility has been in the works for years. After Ochsner announced in 2017 it would be relocating to its new clinic in The Grove, near the Mall of Louisiana, the Baton Rouge-based health care system said it would terminate the hospital’s lease, citing a need to grow into the space.
BRG’s planned outpatient surgery center is the latest of several health care construction projects in the works for the Capital Region, where competition is growing. In January, BRG broke ground on a 10-patient hospital and clinic in Prairieville, while Ochsner is continuing to expand its footprint in Baton Rouge with a new clinic under construction at Bluebonnet Boulevard and Burbank Drive. Our Lady of the Lake’s $230-million Children’s Hospital opened its doors on Saturday.
