San Antonio-based Wilford Hall Medical Center, which has stood vacant for several years, is being torn down in a two-year, $40 million project, according to a Sept. 5 report from San Antonio Express News.
The hospital, which opened in 1957, was a flagship care center for the U.S. Air Force. Now, due to asbestos contamination, it will have to be taken down by a hazardous materials team.
In 2005, the Air Force was ordered to consolidate inpatient care in the region at Brooke Army Medical Center, also in San Antonio, and Wilford became an outpatient facility. In 2017, Wilford Hall opened an ASC across the street from the medical center, which performed its last surgical procedure and closed its doors shortly after.
Before demolition began, the medical center had nine stories, 1,000 beds, 12 miles of hallway and 1.4 million square feet of space.