Florida State University’s Board of Trustees has approved the transfer of Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare assets between the city of Tallahassee and FSU.
The board met virtually March 26 for the unanimous vote, which comes hours before the Florida Board of Governors is set to meet to give the transfer its own stamp of approval during a full board meeting at 12:40 p.m. EST on the University of West Florida’s campus in Pensacola.
“This is the first major step in building FSU Health and taking the big step toward improving health care, but also building clinical, biological and biomedical research for Florida State University,” FSU President Richard McCullough said during the morning meeting, “so it’s a big deal.”
Florida State University President Richard McCullough attends the Board of Governors meeting on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026.
McCullough attended the university board meeting from a conference room on UWF’s campus along with FSU board chair Peter Collins, FSU Vice President for Finance & Administration Kyle Clark and FSU trustee and Student Body President Carson Dale.
City commissioners approved the transfer of the city’s TMH assets to FSU in a 3-2 vote on March 11, relinquishing ownership of the hospital Tallahassee has claimed as its own for nearly 80 years.
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Florida State University President Richard McCullough, left, speaks with Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare CEO Mark O’Bryant after the City of Tallahassee voted 3-2 to sell TMH to FSU on Wednesday, March 11, 2026.
“It’s been a long process,” Collins said, “but this is going to be transformational for the university, Tallahassee, North Florida and TMH.”
The city’s agreement with FSU includes a pledge that university administrators will spend $1.7 billion to invest locally over the next 30 years – though the agreements make clear that this is on the condition of the legislature appropriating “a sufficient amount for FSU to perform its obligations under this agreement.”
For the transfer of the assets, the city will charge FSU $109 million, which will be contributed back to citizens in annual installments of $3.63 million over the 30 years.
“This was a tremendous amount of effort,” said FSU trustee Jorge Gonzalez, who is also president, CEO & chairman of The St. Joe Company. “It required a lot of patience and a lot of intestinal fortitude to navigate the process.”
As the Board of Governors is set to vote on the hospital transfer, its full board meeting can be viewed on The Florida Channel’s website.
Tarah Jean is the higher education reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat, a member of the USA TODAY Network – Florida. She can be reached at tjean@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @tarahjean_.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU Board of Trustees approves TMH hospital transfer from Tallahassee