Building construction could start this month
SUMMIT TWP — Construction of a $20 million medical office building for the Butler Health System is expected to begin this month.
The 48,000-square-foot building will contain facilities for cardiology testing, medical and interventional cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, electrophysiologists, orthopedic surgeons, pain management, laboratory/X-ray/pre-admission testing, general surgeons, women’s imaging, obstetricians/gynecologists, medical oncology and palliative care.
It will be built on 8.5 acres near the system’s heart and vascular center, known as the Butler Health System East Campus, at the intersection of routes 38, 68 and 422. The three-story building will have 20 to 25 doctors and advanced practice providers and 50 to 60 support staff.
CEO Ken DeFurio said the health system’s growth made the facility necessary.
“We need it now,” DeFurio said last week.
The building, which likely will be paid for using the system’s cash reserves, is designed by the Design Group of Columbus, Ohio, and will be built by Turner Construction of Pittsburgh.
Officials hope the building will be open in fall 2015.
Thomas Genevro, vice president of facilities and human resources, said the East Campus is the system’s busiest outpatient facility, and the building will create a full outpatient campus at that location.
He said the new building will help make Butler Memorial Hospital, which is a quarter mile away, less crowded and allow for further inpatient service growth at the hospital.
Dr. Steven Paterno, an OB/GYN, practices at the heart and vascular center and will have his offices moved to the new building.
He said part of the reason he began practicing at the system about six months ago was the promise of the new building. He said he likes that the building basically will have a comprehensive women’s health center.
“I think that there are multiple purposes for the new building,” Paterno said.
Roxann Stickney, zoning officer for Summit Township, said because of the health system’s nonprofit status, the township will not get property tax revenue from the new building.
However, it will get local service tax money from the employees. She said she is not sure yet how much revenue that will generate for the township.
She said the heart and vascular center was the last major construction project in the township.
She added the township is glad to have the health system operating there, saying it is good for the community.
“We’re very happy to have them,” Stickney said.
The system’s last major construction project was the seven-story tower at Butler Memorial, which opened in the summer of 2010.
That 150,000-square-foot building cost $150 million, and included a new entrance off Jefferson Street and a new parking area. The project added 57 beds to the hospital.
Before that, the heart and vascular center opened in 2008, expanding the system’s heart care services.
