Patton Township Supervisors Approve Plans for Expansion of Geisinger Gray’s Woods Complex

Geisinger plans to begin construction this year for an addition to its clinic at Gray’s Woods following approval by the Patton Township Board of Supervisors.

Supervisors on May 10 unanimously approved a land development plan for a two-story, 10,750-square-foot expansion on the north side of the Geisinger Healthplex at 132 Abigail Lane, in what is currently a grassy area.

“We’re excited to bring this expansion to Patton Township, the State College community and all the communities that we serve here,” Kirk Thomas, chief administrative officer for Geisinger’s western region, said during the board meeting.

Thomas previously said that the addition would help Geisinger expand its pediatric and orthopedic services.

Kaiser Permanente’s acquisition of Geisinger to form a new nonprofit organization operating community health systems will not impact the plans, Nick Argot, of project engineer Borton Lawson, told the township planning commission earlier in May.

The project, which is expected to be completed in 2024, includes an extension of Abigail Lane, crosswalks sidewalks, signage, bicycle parking, utility relocation, lighting and landscaping. An existing stormwater basin will be modified and a swale will be added to adjust for increased impervious surface.

Fifty new parking spaces will be added in a surface lot, while reconfigured existing parking to add four ADA spaces will result in a net gain of 48 parking spots. Township ordinance would require the addition of 108 spaces, but a parking study found only about 70% of existing parking is in use at peak occupancy and the net 48 new spaces would be enough for the addition. Supervisors approved a waiver for a reduction in required parking.

Results of a traffic study, which is still to be finalized, also will require a traffic signal at the Ghaner Road/I-99 northbound and Gray’s Woods Boulevard intersection and at the Gray’s Woods Boulevard and Abigail Lane intersection.

The addition is the first in four planned phases of expansions to the Gray’s Woods Clinic.

Supervisors in March approved 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 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.

The project planned for this year is phase three.

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.

Each phase will require land development plan approvals.