By: Heather Stauffer
Less than a month after opening its first major patient-care site in Lancaster County, Penn State Health has purchased land for a second.
The Hershey-based system recently paid $2.4 million for a 3.3-acre plot of land near Routes 30 and 222 in Manheim Township, according to courthouse records.
Penn State Health spokeswoman Megan Manlove said in an email Tuesday that the site “is part of our commitment to growing our community network and expanding clinical services in Lancaster County.”
“We are still determining what services will be offered there, so there isn’t a definitive timeline or additional detail to offer at this time,” she wrote.
The highly visible site at 1640 Crooked Oak Drive, off Eden Road, comes with a land development plan that was approved by the township 10 years ago.
That plan calls for a three-story, 56,000-square-foot office building and 215 parking spaces, according to marketing materials from U.S. Commercial Realty, whose Dwight and Mike Wagner listed the site for sale.
Construction industry sources estimate it would cost about $8 million to $11 million to do site work and build a structure that size. That estimate excludes furniture and equipment.
The tract is zoned I-1, an industrial designation. Medical and dental offices, as well as professional offices, are allowed by right on land zoned I-1, according to the township zoning ordinance.
Penn State Health bought the parcel on Jan. 30 from an investment group led by local developer Phil Frey. Frey, best known as a developer of the Shoppes at Belmont, declined to comment on the transaction.
The Crooked Oak site is a little over 5 miles from Penn State Health’s first big presence in Lancaster County, the Lime Spring Outpatient Center.
The 76,000-square-foot outpatient center opened in January along Noll Drive and Rohrerstown Road in East Hempfield Township, consolidating five existing offices and adding about a dozen specialty services.
That facility followed its 2017 purchase of what had been the county’s largest independent physician practice group, with about 100 providers.
Penn State Health is best known for its adult and children’s hospitals on its main Hershey campus.
The health system also owns St. Joseph Medical Center in Reading and recently got final permission to build a new 108-bed hospital in Cumberland County.
Penn State Health doesn’t have a hospital in Lancaster County, but does boast eight primary practices here in addition to those practicing from the Lime Spring Outpatient Center.
Penn State Health also signed a strategic partnership with insurer Highmark in 2017.
The two said they plan to invest a combined $1 billion over the next several years, including the Lime Spring facility, the hospital to be built in Cumberland County, and expansions to the emergency room and the children’s hospital at the Hershey campus.
In the past, leaders have also discussed building an Innovations Pavilion with research labs and teaching space for the medical school that’s on the same campus as the two hospitals and the system’s business offices.
Staff Writer Tim Mekeel contributed to this story.