Another one bites the dust: Memorial Hermann Fort Bend Hospital to be demolished

After 3 years of being on and off the market, the former Memorial Hermann Fort Bend Hospital has finally sold and will be torn down and redeveloped as it cleared the final hurdles for the city approval. Memorial Hermann first put the Missouri City land on the market in June 2005 as part of the shift to a new Sugar Land hospital in 2006.

SDI Realty Management Inc. of Houston purchased the 20 acre site, located at Highway 6 and FM 1092, on June 9. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the property previously listed for $13.7 million.

The land consists of the 64,273-square-foot former hospital and a 39,121-square-foot professional office building. This was the last available corner tract at the intersection, with other retail developments on the other three corners.

Plans are to demolish the hospital and office building and redevelop the site into a retail center consisting of a Lowe's Home Improvement store and other retail pad users.

Memorial Hermann had initially planned to convert into a long-term acute care hospital after relocating its Fort Bend campus to a newly built hospital in Sugar Land. The 30-bed Missouri City hospital closed in December 2006, the same month that the 80-bed Sugar Land hospital opened.

Meanwhile the deal leaves Missouri City without a traditional hospital. A potential location should be considered convenient to the rapidly growing communities of Riverstone and Sienna Plantation.