Stalled Ariz. Hospital Project Moves Forward

PEORIA, Ariz. — Construction on Peoria’s first hospital is scheduled begin in April, with the facility slated to open its doors in June 2012.

 

Plans for the Peoria Regional Medical Center were announced three years ago but construction was postponed after the recession depleted project funds. However, recent building documents submitted to the city indicate that construction of the 73,000-square-foot facility is ready to move forward.

 

Visionary Health, which manages Gilbert Hospital in the Southeast Valley and a new medical center set to open in Florence in December, will also operate Peoria hospital. Visionary Health officials anticipate the hospital to serve as an anchor for other ancillary medical services in the area.

 

City and hospital officials say that the area is underserviced, even with the opening of a 14-bed emergency medical facility last year.

 

The new Peoria hospital is expected to create at least 250 jobs within the first 18 months of operation.

 

Visionary Health requested financial assistance from Peoria for the project in the form of a partial waiver on construction sales tax and a partial or full waiver on development agreement fees from the city. It also requested a $408,000 waiver on right-of-way improvement reimbursement at Lake Pleasant Parkway — where the facility will be built — and a partial waiver on development impact fees.

 

The city’s economic development chief, Scott Whyte, said the requests are reasonable because the hospital will bring “well-paying, educated jobs” to the area.

 

The city has asked hospital officials to complete an application as part of its Economic Development Incentive and Investment Policy, which was created last fall to provide a formal process for such requests.