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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowRiverview Health is planning a $36 million project at its Noblesville campus that would add an outpatient care center and parking garage.
The Hamilton County-owned organization owns about 15 acres of land along State Road 38/32 on the west side of the White River in Noblesville next to its existing156-bed hospital, along with an overflow parking lot that’s used for the city’s farmer’s market.
Hospital executives and local officials have been discussing a potential expansion on the site for months, and initial plans were presented to the Hamilton County Commissioners on Tuesday afternoon.
The new 98,000-square-foot, three-story facility would be constructed immediately to the east of the hospital’s professional services building along State Road 32 and would include clinical offices, rehabilitation services and a fitness center with a track and lap pool.
The 450- to 500-spot parking garage would be constructed to the south of the new building and would connect to all three floors of the outpatient center.
“The amount of travel you’ll need to get from your parking space to your destination is very short,” said Joel Farmer, senior project manager from Indianapolis-based architectural and engineering firm American Structurepoint Inc.
Future phases of the project would also include demolishing the orthopaedics and sports medicine building to the south of the emergency room. Those services would be relocated to the new building, and the area would be reconstructed into a 125-space surface parking lot.
The outpatient care center is expected to be at least partially open by October 2017 and completed no later than February 2018. The parking garage could be finished as early as February 2017.
“What you’re trying to do is create a destination for health care,” Farmer said. “This is going to be a great fitness opportunity for residents of Noblesville to come and be a member of.”
The overflow parking lot, which many local officials have been eyeing for private development, would be used for staff parking during construction, but Riverview Health President and CEO Pat Fox said it could be sold in the future.
Riverview would also be vacating its offices in the adjacent Noblesville Square retail center, a move that could free up that land for redevelopment. The hospital owns the 12.8-acre property where the shopping center is located.
Hamilton County Commissioner Steve Dillinger said his one concern with the project is the traffic impact it could have on S.R. 32. A new entrance to the campus would be aligned with Nixon Street, although there is no traffic signal at that intersection.
“I think you’ll be surprised the back-ups it will cause,” Dillinger said. “It’s a huge problem right now.”
Farmer said because S.R. 32 is under state control, the Indiana Department of Transportation will have to approve the project and the proposed access points before construction starts.
“Just because they approve it, it doesn’t make it right,” Dillinger said.
Riverview also is building a health facility in nearby Westfield. It broke ground earlier this month on a $34 million six-story patient care center on an 8.6-acre property south of Westfield Intermediate School and to the west of Shamrock Boulevard where the old football and track stadium was located.
It is expected to be completed by fall 2017.
The 105,000-square-foot building will include urgent care, primary and specialty physician services, an ambulatory surgical center, physical and occupational therapy, rehabilitation services, an outpatient pharmacy, and laboratory and imaging services.
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