In 1974, real estate agent Jim Tully purchased a ten-acre parcel of land as the site for a new hospital in Tallahassee. At the time, the wait required for non-emergency surgery at
Tallahassee Memorial Hospital could be six weeks. Tully organized a group of five doctors and five investors who applied for and were granted a
Certificate of need (CON) from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. This permit was required before a new medical facility could be established. The land and CON were sold to Nashville's
General Care Corporation, a company that owned seven other hospitals. During construction, a sign on
Capital Circle identified the future hospital and planned health care facilities as the
Jim Tully Center. The $7-million facility opened in September 1979 as Capital Medical Center. In September 1980, GCC was purchased by
HCA Healthcare and became part of a multi-billion-dollar
corporation. It was renamed HCA Tallahassee Community Hospital in January 1982. In 1982 and 1983, gained a
CT Scan service and opened its family center. In June 1985, Florida's Health and Rehabilitative Services granted TCH a Certificate of Need to expand and renovate, resulting in the 1986 opening of a
cardiac catheterization lab, and the beginning of an $11 million expansion and renovation project. In 1988, HRS issued a final approval for TCH's renovated and expanded physical plant; and in April 1989, it issued final approval for TCH's
open-heart surgical program. The name was changed to Capital Regional Medical Center in 2003 when the hospital shifted to a new facility built adjacent to the original. The $105 million construction was designed by
Driehaus Prize winner and
New Classical architect
Michael Graves in conjunction with Nashville architects,
Thomas, Miller & Partners. ==References==