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Geisinger Planning Expansion of Gray’s Woods Complex

Geisinger Health System is planning multiple expansions of its clinic at Gray’s Woods in Patton Township, starting with construction of a two-story addition this year.

Patton Township supervisors approved on March 22 an amendment to the master plan for the 51.94-acre property at 132 Abigail Lane that will include four phases of construction over the next 14 years.

The master plan for the site was originally adopted in 2005 and the facility, dubbed Geisinger Healthplex State College, first opened its doors in 2008. A major addition opened in 2014 and brought the multi-specialty clinic to 144,000 square feet, the largest of its kind in Geisinger’s system.

Those represented the first two phases of the facility. Phase three construction is anticipated to begin in 2023 and will include a 21,500-square-foot addition on the north side of the existing clinic, Nick Argot, of project engineer Borton Lawson, told the township planning commission in February.

A land development plan for phase three, which will require approval before construction proceeds, has been submitted to the township and is under review. It also will include a new new 52-space surface parking lot, which will be constructed by paving an existing gravel area and a portion of a current wooded area. Argot said that the township ordinance would require 108 spaces, but Geisinger will seek a waiver for the reduced amount after a parking analysis found that 52 would meet the needs of the expansion.

The upcoming phase also will include the extension of Abigail Lane, reconfiguring the ADA parking area at the main entrance to the clinic, sidewalks, signage, bicycle parking, utility relocation, lighting and landscaping. An existing stormwater basing will be modified to adjust for increased impervious surface.

Preliminary results of a traffic study factoring in existing conditions and the four planned phases indicate the need for a traffic signal at the Interstate 99 and Gray’s Woods Boulevard intersection and at the Gray’s Woods Boulevard and Abigail Lane intersection, Argot said.

Phase four, which is planned for 2027, includes the addition of a third story to the existing clinic structure, adding 70,600 square feet of space.

Phases five and six are planned for 2037. They include two new detached medical office buildings on the east side of the property — one to be 25,000 square feet and the other 11,000 square feet. Those phases also will add another surface parking area, sidewalks, signage, bicycle parking, utility infrastructure, lighting and landscaping, as well as completion of a bike path that runs through the property.

Geisinger’s plans are among several that will expand health care facilities in the Centre Region.

Mount Nittany Health has begun construction on a $90 million outpatient center slated to open at Toftrees West next year and is moving through approval processes for a $350 million, 10-floor addition to the medical center that is expected to be completed in 2026, among other facility renovation and expansion projects.

Penn Highlands Healthcare also is building a new $70 million hospital and medical office building in the Patton Town Center development on Colonnade Boulevard, with completion expected in 2024.