Over a Century of Care
You may have heard that because Centra is continuing to consolidate and modernize services around Centra Lynchburg General Hospital and the new Simons Run campus, the Virginia Baptist Hospital (VBH) campus will also undergo significant changes.
To honor VBH’s legacy and its surrounding neighborhood, Centra is launching a multi-phased planning process to explore potential options for the future of the campus. We recognize that the future of VBH has always been rooted in the community—in its founding and now in determining its best use moving forward.
When VBH opened on July 12, 1924, the hope of the founders was to fill a need within Lynchburg by providing excellent care. By prioritizing this aspiration, Virginia Baptist Hospital became an anchor institution in Lynchburg as a provider of vital, life-saving services and a major employer.
As the founders’ hope has been fulfilled over the last century, the facility’s enduring legacy lies not in the building itself or in the medical advancements that have occurred there, but in you, the numerous Caregivers who have given of your own time, energy and talents, to shape VBH into a landmark of excellent care. While VBH is known for many things such as its towering trees, expansive lawn and unmistakable cupola, it would not be known as a place of healing without its people.
Building on the Legacy
Now, as we seek to consider the future of VBH, we are committed to a thoughtful, informed planning process that honors this legacy.
We understand that change can bring questions and a sense of anxiety. Centra is committed to a transparent process and to maintaining open dialogue through this transition. This process is about building a stronger, more resilient healthcare system while also ensuring that VBH remains a community jewel.
What exactly is an adaptive reuse feasibility study?
An adaptive reuse feasibility study is used when seeking to gain a deeper understanding of an existing building by stepping back and considering an entire range of possible uses that could be adapted to repurpose the property in a way that contributes to the area’s quality of life and local economy.
Through collaboration with a design, architecture and engineering firm, we will integrate building information, case study examples, a market analysis, employee and community input and other data to inform redevelopment concepts about VBH’s future. Because an iterative planning process is being used, the input received at each stage of the planning effort is designed to provide useful knowledge to inform future phases.
For example, at the January neighbor and employee open houses, important words were collected to shape goals. The community will then have the opportunity to review goal statements and provide feedback on them in February. The final goal statements will then serve as an evaluation tool in March as we examine potential reuse alternatives for VBH.
Ultimately, the purpose of the study is threefold:
- Campus assessment to understand existing facilities, identify opportunities and constraints.
- Engagement to increase awareness and seek input from neighbors, Caregivers and the greater community about potential future uses along with identifying potential partners.
- Identify design and reuse alternatives to determine feasible alternatives for reuse by understanding the market, examining case studies and evaluating options
Fun Fact: With more than 537,000 square feet of space in buildings and the parking deck adding another 120,400 square feet, the total square footage is equivalent to the size of more than six Home Depot stores!
Learn More
In the most recent episode of Centra’s podcast “& so much”, we sat down with a few members of the team that’s facilitating the adaptive reuse feasibility study to learn more about the thoughtful approach Centra is taking.
