A hospital in Garland that was once among the largest in northeast Dallas County will shutter in March because of declining inpatient volumes and unsuccessful attempts to find new ownership for the 53-year old medical facility.

The last day of operations for the Baylor Scott and White Medical Center on Marie Curie Boulevard will be Feb. 28, the system told The Dallas Morning News on Thursday.

“It’s been a tough situation. We've had to make a very painful decision after searching a lot of options,” said the system’s chief operating officer, John McWhorter.

The closure will affect 711 employees at the 113-bed facility. Just over 100 people are currently inpatients there, McWhorter said.

The staff will continue serving admitted patients until they are discharged or transferred to other facilities. The last day for patient admissions will be Feb. 16.

Baylor Scott and White Health is an $11 billion nonprofit system that operates 50 hospitals and emergency medical centers in Texas.

The system put the Garland hospital up for sale earlier this year but says it has yet to find a buyer. It will still consider a sale, but officials said the facility will remain mostly vacant.

Confirmation of the closure comes as Garland, a first-ring suburb of Dallas, is trying to bolster interest in residential community and commercial development.

In the past few months, builders have moved ahead with a $50 million, 41-acre industrial project at the southeast corner of Marquis Drive and South Jupiter Road, and the city has approved a deal for a $25 million medical center on Telecom Parkway, about five miles north of Baylor Garland, just off of the Bush Turnpike.

There has been renewed interest in the area, where many buildings date to the late 1950s and early 1960s, said David Gwin, the city's director of economic development, who says Baylor will remain “incredibly important” to the city.

He also said, however, that competition among health-care providers has become significant as U.S. hospitals re-evaluate their operations while the nation undergoes major health-care changes.

“They're all having to look at their business models closely and study how they apply to the communities in the populations they serve,” he said.

The Garland hospital opened in 1964 as the 100-bed Memorial Hospital of Garland, a $2 million project. It was purchased in 1991 by the Baylor system. The year before, a survey found that 80 percent of Garland residents left the city for medical services.

The facility, for many years, had no nearby competition. In 2002, as Baylor Garland planned for a two-year, $18 million expansion, it was described by The News as "the largest hospital in northeast Dallas County." But with the passage of time comes change.

"Competition is always good," said Gwin, "though it does make for a lot of change, and hard decisions have to be made." That's where Baylor says it is now.

McWhorter noted that today, there are 71 urgent care centers, 48 ambulatory surgery centers, 21 hospitals and 11 freestanding emergency rooms within 12 miles of the Garland facility.

"There are lots of choices. Patients are accessing care elsewhere," he said.

The hospital logged 12,396 inpatient admissions in the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2008, according to annual financial disclosures to bondholders. That number dipped to 7,429 at the same time this year.

The system says it anticipates being able to place “a great number” of employees in comparable positions at its other locations.

Baylor Garland logged 7,429 inpatient admissions last fiscal year, down from 12,396 nine years earlier, according to financial disclosures. (Andy Jacobsohn / Staff Photographer)

Patients who would like to request copies of their medical records may contact the Health Information Management Department at 972-487-5346 before Feb. 28 or the Baylor University Medical Center starting in March at 214-820-2135.

Doors at Baylor Garland will permanently close no later than 11:59 p.m. on the last day of February, but Baylor says it will maintain a presence in Garland.

Its other area facilities — which include over 40 physician practices, three rehab and two surgery centers, and an outpatient pharmacy — are not affected by closing.