Julious P. Smith Jr., the authority’s chairman who is an attorney with the Williams Mullen law firm, concurred: “Basically we feel like if they need time to get the project together, we feel it is the right thing to do.” Regarding the possibility of demolishing the building, he said: “That’s going to be all part of the process they’ll have to go through with the city and neighbors.”

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Bon Secours tried to keep and renovate the Westhampton School building as part of its plans for the nursing college, according to Ardabell. It brought in two architecture firms and a third-party consultant to determine if the cost of the project could be reduced, but to no avail.

“It just got to the point where ... there was just no way we thought that was a sound business decision,” she said. “When we make business decisions about new projects we have to realize that consumers aren’t going to pay more for health care because we make bad business decisions.”

In August, Bon Secours held a community meeting at its St. Mary’s Hospital campus — located less than a mile off Libbie Avenue from the school site — updating neighbors on its plans for the building.