A permit was issued recently for the construction of a primary-care medical clinic in Jacksonville which will be added to the already existing Walmart facility, along Philips Highway in Jacksonville city. This further expansion will enlarge the Walmart premises by an additional 6,510 square feet and will cost about $1.02 million to construct.The site is owned by Walmart Real Estate Business and they will be contracting a firm called Hutton Construction Inc., to carry out the project.
Jacksonville city also permitted construction for a 6,495-square-foot Walmart Health clinic at the retailer’s Southwest Jacksonville Supercenter at 7075 Collins Road. The $900,000 store expansion project will be handled by Golden & Associates Construction LLC of Birmingham, Alabama.
Walmart intends to open seven clinics in Northeast Florida like the primary-care medical clinic in Jacksonville, and these two are among the five area Walmart clinics in review for construction. Walmart Health locations offer primary care, urgent care, counseling, optical and hearing services, dental and lab services which include x-ray, diagnostics and imaging, and these services are still provided in one central facility within existing Walmart stores.
An Arkansas-based Walmart, in Bentonville also plans to build clinics at 6830 Normandy Blvd., 11900 Atlantic Blvd. and in Middleburg. Walmart opened its first center in September 2019 in Dallas, Georgia, and according to one it’s previous blogs, plans are being made to build seven Walmart Health centers in Jacksonville, with the first opening in early 2021.
In a post on the chain’s corporate blog, the president of health and wellness for Walmart, Sean Slovenski said, “The combined crises of the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic recession, and subsequent loss of health insurance for millions of Americans have reinforced the vulnerabilities of our healthcare system. At Walmart, we understand that this means our customers need us now, more than ever.” He also stated, “We recognize we can make an impact by increasing access to quality, affordable and convenient healthcare as we invest millions of dollars and expand Walmart Health into Florida, which is home to the second-highest number of Walmart stores in the country.”
