Health Care Construction Booming
The Springs, Ridgecrest Complexes Expanding
By Keith Lawrence
Messenger-Inquirer
Owensboro Mercy Health System completed a 437.4 million expansion last September that added a new medical office building, parking garage, emergency room and birthing center to the complex that now stretches four blocks along East Parrish Avenue from Triplett to Breckenridge streets.
But this year, the hospital, which still has several projects on the drawing boards, is taking a breather.
“We have nothing currently under construction and nothing planned for this fiscal year,” Janet Hayden, vice president of marketing and planning, said last week.
But that doesn’t mean that the local health care industry, which employs roughly 3,000 people, is taking a breather.
Far from it.
In March, the Green River District Health Department moved into a new 22,000-square-foot, 42.8 million building on Breckenridge Street.
And last week, the agency announced plans to raze the old facility at 1600 Breckenridge St. and build a new 68,000-square-foot, $6.7 million Daviess County Community Health Center there.
The private sector is also hard at work on medical office complexes.
Five medical offices have already opened in The Springs Health Centre, 2200 E. Parrish Ave., between Leitchfield Road and the U.S. 60 bypass.
Dr. George S. Gilliam completed his move Wednesday, joining Owensboro Pediatrics, Dr. John Howard Jr., Dr. Mukesh Desai and Lincoln Laboratories’ third Owensboro location.
That 45,000-square-foot, three-story building will have nine medical offices and roughly 50 health care professionals by the time it is completed next month, developer Malcolm Bryant said last week.
“People started moving in in January,” Bryant said, “And it should be completed in another 45 days.”
First of eight buildings
And that building is just the first of eight planned for the park-like setting.
Construction has already begun on an identical building just east of the first one. It should be finished by the end of the year.
A third bulding is also scheduled for completion this fall. It will house Niko’s Italian Restaurant, a new concept created by George Skiadas, owner of the Famous Bistro in downtown Owensboro.
Bryant said that building will be large enough to also house a bank branch.
“We’ll start this summer on two more buildings of 25,000 to 30,000 square feet each,” he said. “We’ll have a conference center that will seat 100 to 150 people and a 3,000 square-foot exercise facility for employees. It’ll be similar to a health spa at at a hotel.”
The timetable for the remaining three buildings in the complex “depends on the market,” Bryant said. “But the market has been strong so far.”
When the campus is completed it should house 150 to 200 health care workers, he said.
“We’re two minutes from the hospital,” Bryant said. “And doctors like the park atmosphere out here. We’ll have ponds, lakes and a big fountain in front.”
The complex will eventually house offices for general practitioners, surgeons, specialists, a pharmacy, laboratories, physical therapists and dentists, he said.
Ridgecrest expanding
Over on New Hartford Road across from Lincoln Mall, Dr. Tom Logan is nearing completion on the new offices of his Midwest Ear, Nose and Throat Head & Neck Surgery PSC in Ridgecrest Medical Park.
Once the practice moves from 2211 Mayfair Ave. into the new two-story building, the practice will expand, Logan said.
“We’re expanding our audiology work and offering more convenient treatment of allergies along with our standard ear, nose and throat practice,” he said.
Midwest was founded in Henderson by Logan’s father 25 years ago. Today, it has offices in Owensboro and Henderson in Kentucky and Evansville, Washington and Tell City in Indiana.
“But I’m in Owensboro full time,” Logan said. “We have five physicians for the five offices.”
The new Midwest office building is the fourth in Ridgecrest Medical Park, bringing the total space under roof there to 55,000 square feet. Owensboro Dermatology Associates, Ohio Valley Surgical Specialists and Orthopedic and Sports Medicine of Owensboro moved into the complex last fall.
And there’s room for two more buildings there.
“As a group of physicians, we tried to design a medical complex to accommodate our practices,” said Logan, a partner in the development. “People can park at the front door. And it’s a very visible location on a main thoroughfare.”
The complex is only 1.5 miles from the hospital, he said.
“With so many physicians in a common area, it’s more convenient for patients who have more than one physician,” Logan said. “We’ve designed everything for patient convenience.”
Ridgecrest is just north of Farrell Crescent, an office complex with roughly a dozen medical offices.
