Memorial Health Systems unveils details of new hospital plan

Plans for the Memorial Health Systems at-least $120 million new hospital off of Roosevelt Avenue in West Manchester Township are finally taking shape.

The approximately 220,000-square-foot hospital will include four levels and will have 102 beds, according to information provided by the hospital. All of the rooms will be individual, which helps alleviate privacy concerns and lower infection rates, said Memorial Health Systems President and CEO Sally Dixon.

The hospital will include some features that the current facility does not have, including a Level II neonatal intensive care unit and a second cardiac catheterization lab, officials said.

There will be a public and ambulance entrance off of Roosevelt Avenue and a second main public entrance off of Loucks Road, Dixon said.

It will cost $120 million to $130 million to construct, she said.

Memorial Health Systems purchased the former Hawk Lake Golf Course site in 2008 with intent to build a new hospital. The organization was bought by for-profit Tennessee-based Community Health Systems Inc. in 2012.

Design work remains ongoing and the project has not yet been bid, but groundbreaking is expected in fall 2015, according to information provided by the hospital. That assumes approval by township, county and state regulatory agencies.

The new facility will take about 18 to 20 months to build, according to information provided by the hospital.

Spokesman Jason McSherry said the architectural firm for the project is Earl Swensson Associates Inc., but he did not know the cost of the architectural contract.

The company has not yet decided whether it will sell the property housing the currently operating hospital off of Belmont Street, but it will not remain a Memorial-run hospital, Dixon said.

“We will (continue to) have a presence on the east side in some shape or form,” she said.

Source: Central Penn Business Journal