OKLAHOMA CITY -- Beginning in the 1970s, businesses and residents began fleeing the Midtown area of Oklahoma City, leaving behind vacant lots and deteriorating buildings. By 2003, St. Anthony also considered relocating to the suburbs from its location in the Midtown area.

But that year, an agreement between the hospital and the city sparked a revival of the community. Under the agreement, street access to the hospital was improved, a streetscape redevelopment began, dilapidated buildings were torn down and new restaurants, stores and businesses have begun to spring up in their place.

St. Anthony has its own campus redevelopment plan. Click on the slideshow above for:

• A long view of the new Saints Medical Plaza building that houses several physicians’ offices, The Breast Center, a Starbucks coffeehouse and a Walgreens drugstore.
• Water features like this one are among new landscaping designed to enhance St. Anthony’s healing environment.
• Renovations to the corridors of the 110-year-old St. Anthony that give the hospital a warm, updated and airy feel.
• The west-lobby stained glass windows, donated by the Love family, that are an attraction and conversation piece for visitors.
• The campus’ coffeehouse, the first hospital-owned Starbucks in the state, that brings in St. Anthony employees and downtown professionals.
• The Midtown YMCA which was guaranteed its customer base when St. Anthony offered half-priced gym memberships to its employees.
• A St. Anthony YourCARE Clinic, popping up in Homeland grocery stores around Oklahoma City.
• A nighttime view of the new East Entrance to St. Anthony, located on the  new Devon Energy Plaza with its boulevard-style entrance and landscaped parking lot.

Click here to learn more about St. Anthony Hospital and read more about its neighborhood revival in the next issue of SSM Network due in October.