Penn State Health’s rapid expansion on the West Shore will continue.
Thursday night, the health system got the ball rolling on the expansion of the Penn State Health Hampden Medical Center before the 300,000-square-foot, three-story hospital even opens.
The Hampden Township Planning Commission recommended plans on Thursday night for the preliminary land development plan for the second phase of Penn State Health Hampden Medical Center, which is now under construction at Good Hope and Wertzville roads, just off Interstate 81.
The health system is seeking approval for a new medical office building and parking garage. The 94,050-square-foot, three-story medical office building would be adjacent to the north side of the hospital building. Construction of the medical office building and the 114,400-square-foot, four level parking garage could begin as early as this fall. The building and the garage are expected to completed next year.
And Penn State Health is also preparing for expansions that could take place years down the road that would more than double the number of beds in the hospital. The health system is seeking approval for three potential hospital additions: a four-story, 45,634-square-foot building that would have 24 beds; a three-story, 57,381-square-foot building and a six-story 117,864-square-foot building that would have 120 beds. The expansion is expected to be completed by or before 2030.
The Hampden Medical Center, which is on track to open later this year, initally will include 108 inpatient beds, an emergency department, physician offices, various specialty inpatient services, image and lab services and medical and surgical capabilities.
Pictured are the plans for Penn State Health Hampden Medical Center's expansion (Hampden Township)
Penn State Health said once the $200-million hospital is operational, the hospital will initially employ 650 people, with a planned increase over the first three years to about 1,000 employees. It will eventually expects to employ around 1,200 people. It also said it is employing about 1,000 people during construction. Officials broke ground at the site on March 29, 2019.
In 2017, when Penn State Hershey Medical Center and Highmark announced a partnership, Penn State Hershey said at the time it would spend $1 billion to expand and improve its facilities, with the backing of Highmark.
And one focus for the health system is Cumberland County.
In October, the health system took over operations of Holy Spirit Health System, which includes around 2,600 employees and its hospital in East Pennsboro Township. As part of that deal it also acquired 11 stations of West Shore Advanced Life Support Services, which included six stations in Cumberland County.
And Penn State Health plans to build a new health practice on the Highmark corporate campus on Center Street in East Pennsboro Township as well as a new 10,000-square-foot primary care facility in Upper Allen Township on Route 114/Market Street near the Route 15 interchange, just south of Mechanicsburg.
The area where the new Penn State Health Hampden Medical Center is planned has expanded greatly over the last several years. Large facilities like UPMC Pinnacle West Shore, the Ortenzio Cancer Center, and the Giant and Weis grocery stores have been built over the last several years. And with the larger facilities have come a lot of smaller businesses like Burger King, BB&T, Supercuts and Taco Bell. Members 1st Federal Credit Union is also building a new 172,000-square-foot headquarters in the same shopping complex as Giant Food.
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