Mayo: Old dental building getting a facelift

Mayo Free Press

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The old dental building on US 27 in Mayo is being gutted inside to make room for new tenants. Joyce Marie Taylor photos
A Lafayette County Jail inmate trustee helps tear down old walls inside the old dental building.
Current Doctors Memorial Family Medicine Building on Main Street.
Inside demolition of the old dental building is well underway.

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July 18, 2011

Building will be used for Doctor’s Memorial

Joyce Marie Taylor Suwannee Democrat The Suwannee Democrat Mon Jul 18, 2011, 03:58 PM EDT

Mayo — Demolition of the inside of the old dental building at 117 SW Virginia Circle on US 27 just outside of the city began two weeks ago and is well underway.

“We’re totally remodeling the whole thing,” Marcus Calhoun of the building department said.

Calhoun, with the help of two inmate trustees from the Lafayette County Jail, have been slaving away in the hot summer heat as they tear the walls down to the bare bones in preparation for remodeling of the interior.

According to Clerk of Courts Ricky Lyons, the dental clinic building was built in the 70s as a dental training office for the University of Florida. Later on, both Lafayette Medical and the Health Department operated it as a dental clinic. The past few years it has housed some offices for the health department and was used for storage.

“Due to state budget cutbacks the building is sitting empty,” Lyons said. “The Board was approached by Doctor's Memorial about leasing it. An agreement has been reached for a minimum of 5 years with an option to renew.”

Doctors Memorial Family Medicine is currently serving patients at 113 East Main Street in Mayo. With limited parking on busy Main Street in downtown Mayo, it will be welcome relief to both the staff and their patients to have more ample parking spaces and a larger facility at the new location, officials said.

Lyons stated that county maintenance is doing part of the renovating and Harlie Lynch Construction is doing part as an "add-on" to their contract to build the new Emergency Operations Center adjacent to it.

“The idea is to lease out the building for a period of time and then as the county grows, use it for offices in the future for county staff,” said Lyons.

The projected date of completion is September 30.