Plans Approved for Micro-Hospital in Patton Township

Patton Township Supervisors on Wednesday night approved final plans for a new micro-hospital and medical office building near Colonnade Boulevard and Waddle Road.

Penn Highlands Healthcare will construct the three-story, 82,000-square-foot micro-hospital and 32,000-square-foot, two-story office building on the northwest side of the Patton Town Center development, near Cracker Barrel and Sheetz. Township planner Nicole Pollock said the new medical facilities will complete the buildout of the 16.26-acre site.

“The micro-hospital is a mini version of a general acute care hospital… just on a smaller scale,” Greg Bauer, chief business development officer for Penn Highlands, said when plans were first introduced last fall.

David Nitchkey, of project designer Core Architects, said on Wednesday that construction is expected to begin in early fall and take about 18 months to complete.

At the north end of Patton Town Center, the property drops off about 16 feet from the main street-level portion, making it a “challenging site,” Nitchkey said, adding that architects and project engineer Hawbaker Engineering explored 17 potential layouts.

The lower floor on the north end of the hospital building will include the utility plant, three operating rooms, pre-op and post-op areas and dining services for the inpatient areas.

The main level of the hospital will include an emergency department, support spaces and a cafeteria.

Inpatient services with up to a dozen beds will be on the upper floor of the hospital.

The medical office building, which will be connected to the hospital, will have retail and inpatient pharmacies, a physical therapy clinic, women’s imaging suite, blood draw service and stat lab.

On the upper floor of the office building will be primary care, visiting specialists and outpatient clinics.

Access to the Patton Town Center property will not change, but a new traffic signal will be installed at the entrance just west of Sheetz. Parking will be shared with Sheetz and Cracker Barrel.

“We situated the building in such a way to make the most of the parking,” Nitchkey said.

As part of the plan approval, Penn Highlands is working with the Colonnade property owners to develop a pedestrian connection between the new medical facility and Kohl’s.

Formed in 2011, Penn Highlands Healthcare currently encompasses hospitals in DuBois, Clearfield, Brookville, St. Mary’s, Huntingdon and Tyrone.

“The State College market is a growing market,” Bauer said in September. “We see that area as underserved…”

Penn Highlands acquired the Patton Township property for $6.9 million in 2019. It is financing the project with the issuance of up to $70 million in bonds through the Hospital Authority of the City of DuBois.

When the original plans for Patton Town Center were approved in 2008, the pad where Penn Highlands now plans to build was intended for a luxury hotel, though it was dropped just a few years later. A 2018 update planned for a restaurant, retail building and medical building on the parcel.