The State University System’s Board of Governors will be asked to approve the transfer of city-owned hospital assets from Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare to Florida State University.

The March 26 agenda for the board’s meeting at the University of West Florida calls for authorizing the long-term contract. This contract includes an investment by FSU of $1.7 billion locally over the next 30 years as part of an asset transfer agreement with Tallahassee.

On March 11, the Tallahassee City Commission voted 3-2 to approve the transfer, which proponents frame as moving the region’s primary hospital into a full academic health center that will expand health care access across North Florida.

FSU will assume ownership under the agreement, and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare will operate the hospital under an amended and restated 40-year lease. Patients in the region have been promised better access to specialty care options, the latest treatments and more under the FSU Health flag.

Scenes from Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare throughout the years

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Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, Tuesday, April 7, 2020.

The decision to sell the hospital came after months of negotiations between the city of Tallahassee and FSU.

The vote was pushed through with Mayor John Dailey, City Commissioners Dianne Williams-Cox and Curtis Richardson voting yes and Commissioners Jeremy Matlow and Jack Porter voting no.

While the transfer is a major stride toward a full-fledged academic health center, there are many steps to go. Negotiations between TMH and FSU attorneys are ongoing with no clear end in sight, and even when an agreement is reached, officials have cautioned that building out the new health care enterprise will take time.

The decision to sell the hospital met major pushback, with critics saying the transfer was premature without definitive agreements in place. A provision in the transfer agreement allows a transfer to be initiated April 1, regardless of the status of the TMH-FSU agreement.

The News Service of Florida and local government watchdog reporter Elena Barrera contributed.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU/TMH deal advances to State University system board