Government buys land around Dartmouth General Hospital for $38.5M

The Nova Scotia government is spending $38.5 million to secure the remaining parcels of land it did not already own around the Dartmouth General Hospital.

The recent deal to buy 7 and 11 Mount Hope Ave.follows an announcement late last year of plansto add a new emergency department and more inpatient beds at the Dartmouth General.

Dr. Alex Mitchell, vice-president of clinical infrastructure for Nova Scotia Health, said acquiring the land also means the province canplan forfuture construction without having to worry about land availability orcommercial development.

"It's time, as we talked about in December, to really start distributing health care more broadly across HRM so that we can meet the needs of an expanding population and an expanding population in a variety of other communities beyond Halifax, including Dartmouth," he said in a telephone interview.

Mitchell noted that the Halifax Infirmary will continue to be an integral part of the province and region's health-care system, but the realities of population growth and space constraints means officials must look to spread out services in the future.

Dartmouth General is an ideal place for future service expansion because of land availability and the services already located at the site, which include eight operating rooms, an emergency department and intensive care unit, he said.

As part of last December's announcement, the province also purchased the building that houses Scotia Surgery. Now that it owns the remaining land in the area, Mitchell said the province has the flexibility to plan out a "30- to 40-year journey" without having to worry about doing it all right away.

"We can plan what we need in the next five to 10 years and know that we have room for growth and can solve the challenges of the day at that time with the space that we now have."

'Very valuable' land

The price the government paid for the land is higher than the third-party appraised range of $31 million to $36 million. A spokesperson for the Public Works Department noted, however, that the landowner was askingfor between $40 and $45 million.

"Given the area and possible development opportunities, the land's potential makes it very valuable,"Gary Andrea said in an email.

Andrea said the department has entered into anagreement that gives the current owner time to move out. The agreement could last between 18 and 24 months and there would be a 10 per cent holdback of funds until the owner relocates.