Mayor Dwight C. Jones is hoping to leave more of a legacy when his second term ends in less than 17 months.

So he has come up with a new idea: To champion development of an independent, free-standing children’s hospital on North Boulevard in place of The Diamond, the home of the San Francisco Giant’s Double A affiliate the Flying Squirrels.

Prospects for the hospital appear to be as much of a long shot as his failed plan to build a new stadium for the Squirrels in Shockoe Bottom.

After all, the three hospital systems in the Richmond area — Bon Secours, HCA and VCU — already have rejected the project after years of discussions in which the mayor publicly had little participation.

And in a city that lacks the money or borrowing capacity to fix up most of its crumbling schools, the mayor has yet to identify a source of funding for such a hospital, which officials estimated could cost more than $500 million to build and operate.

Still, he is pushing ahead.

Mayor Jones announced his new big idea last Friday. In doing so, he dropped his go-it-alone approach to baseball and finally embraced City Council’s call since February for him to try a regional approach in seeking a new home for the Squirrels, though he proffered it as his own idea.

In his announcement, he stated that “the conversation around a freestanding children’s hospital has driven a renewed commitment to regional cooperation among the City of Richmond, Henrico County and Chesterfield County,” particularly on the issue of the stadium.

He stated that he began regional talks after advocates for the hospital, mainly pediatricians, surgeons and other children’s physical and mental health specialists, “indicated the Boulevard is their preferred site.”

The mayor stated he met with Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas and Chesterfield County Administrator Jay Stegmaier “to advance this important regional priority” and essentially notify them that the Squirrels could lose their Diamond home after the 2017 season, based on his hopes that the hospital would be on its way to becoming more than talk, even though he would be out of office by then.

As a result of the regional discussions and a meeting with Squirrels and Eastern League officials who want a new stadium and believe one was promised when the team moved here six years ago, Mayor Jones stated he and the county leaders forged an agreement on starting the process of creating a new baseball home for the team.

The Squirrels will work with the localities to identify potential sites, he said, while he will endorse a City Council proposal to extend the Squirrels’ current lease on The Diamond through 2017.

The agreement, he said, also calls for the city and the county administrations to work together to consider a final site, financing options, construction schedules and other details for a team he described “as a great asset to our region.”

At this point, his plan assumes the boards of supervisors of both counties and the council would be on board. Neither Henrico nor Chesterfield’s governing bodies have indicated in recent years that a baseball stadium is a priority for them, given other needs.

In fact, in November 2013 when Mayor Jones announced his Shockoe Bottom stadium plan, he indicated that neither Henrico nor Chesterfield had any interest. Later, both counties willingly agreed to transfer ownership of The Diamond, and responsibility for its upkeep, from a regional authority to the city.

Still, the mayor optimistically stated that his effort “renews our commitment to an open and comprehensive approach to advancing regional priorities, starting with the children’s hospital.”

The mayor’s new approach drew praise from other city leaders.

“Regional cooperation is something Richmond City Council has long been an advocate for,” council President Michelle R. Mosby, 9th District, stated in responding to the mayor’s statement. “I’m confident that we can reason together and move forward in a direction that benefits Richmond residents and the metro Richmond community as a whole.”

Councilman Parker Agelasto, 5th District, who from the start opposed the mayor’s plan for a baseball stadium in Shockoe Bottom, said he is pleased that “regional conversations have received a kick start” in providing options for the Squirrels.

When it comes to the stadium, he said one thing is clear: “How we would finance it would need to be a regional conversation.”

Despite the mayor’s statement eliminating the Boulevard, however, Mr. Agelasto is not ruling out the idea that baseball could remain at its current site, but in a new stadium.

“All I heard in conversations was that baseball should be on the Boulevard,” he said.

Meanwhile, Councilwoman Ellen F. Robertson, who supported the plan to move the stadium to Shockoe Bottom, said she’s not certain that the mayor’s statement rules out any site, including Shockoe Bottom. “I wouldn’t say that was out of the picture,” she said.

She said as she understands it, the goal is to “explore the best option” in concert with the two counties.

As for the hospital, she agrees with the mayor and the physicians pushing the idea that such a children’s medical center “is desperately needed” so that children with rare conditions would not have to leave the area for treatment.

Despite the current obstacles, including the lack of interest from the existing hospital companies, she believes “it is possible to work it out” and end up with a hospital.

Other council members did not respond to a request for comment.