NEW PALESTINE — It’s hard to miss the large-scale construction project taking shape along U.S. 52 at County Road 600W.
The 107,000-square-foot structure is the future home of Hancock Gateway South, Hancock Health’s newest health care hub, which is set to serve the southernmost section of Hancock County and beyond.
The facility is expected to be complete in December, which means patients and others could start using the facility as soon as December or January.
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Construction is progressing steadily and remains on schedule, said Jenn Cox, director of marketing and business development for Hancock Health.
When complete, the nearly $30 million facility will house a wellness center, physician offices, a laboratory and physician therapy center. The wellness center will be the largest of Hancock Health’s three such facilities.
The 36,000-square-foot Greenfield wellness center opened in 2000.
The 44,000-square-foot McCordsville Wellness Center opened in 2016, with an additional 27,000 square feet of space for its on-site medical center.
The New Palestine center boasts 60,000 square feet, with an additional 47,000 square feet for its own medical center.
All three fitness centers have a combined membership of 9,500 people, said Steve Long, president of Hancock Health.
The New Palestine facility will combine a a variety of health-care activities under one roof, enabling patrons to tend to their health and wellness needs in one place, Long said.
“It’s the ideal approach to overall wellness,” he said.
Hancock Health’s wellness centers aren’t designed to generate profit, and aren’t intended to be in direct competition to privately owned gyms and fitness centers like Planet Fitness or Anytime Fitness, Long said.
“If you want just access to gym equipment, then go to those local gyms,” he said. “If you want the very best equipment accessible all under the direction of a doctor, then go to our wellness centers.”
In Long’s eyes, the wellness centers are designed to enhance the community’s overall health and wellness on the front end, preventing illnesses which might overburden the health-care system in the years to come.
“We are setting ourselves up for the future,” he said.
The new wellness center will help meet the needs of people in the New Palestine area, Long said. Whereas those using the McCordsville wellness center have more diverse health-care options in northern Hancock County, the options are much more sparse in the southern part of the county, he said.
In addition to a variety of medical services, Gateway Hancock South will also feature a wide variety of other amenities, like three aquatics facilities including a lap pool, community pool and therapy pool, as well as a common area, community rooms and a walking track that runs throughout the second level of the open-air center.
The facility will also have the Jungle Club child-care center that also is available at the other two wellness centers.
Outside, the center will feature outdoor basketball courts, pickleball courts and a walking trail that will be free and open to the public.
Sketches of the new facility showcase a modern-looking structure with huge glass windows that let in an abundance of natural light.
Long said the location, just across the intersection from Needler’s Market in New Palestine, is an ideal spot to serve the growing population on the south end of the county.
“The intersection at 600 and U.S 52 is every bit as busy as 600 and Pendleton Pike,” Long said, referring to the major intersection in McCordsville.
The location lines up perfectly parallel to the other Hancock Health facilities along County Road 600W, also known as Mt. Comfort Road. Those include the wellness center/physician complex in McCordsville, 8505 N. Clearview Drive; Gateway Hancock Health, which opened in September at Interstate 70 and 600W.
Based on consultants’ feedback, Hancock Health decided to locate all three facilities along the busy Mt. Comfort corridor, from one end of the county to the other.
“Three years ago, we asked leaders at other suburban hospitals, if they could go back 20 years, what would they do differently? And they all said buy land closer to (Interstate) 465,” Long said.
“Now is the time to plant the flag.”
Hancock Health purchased the 65-acre tract of land for the New Palestine wellness center in 2019.
To get a jump start on establishing a client base, Hancock Health bought the Family Fun and Fitness center, 5151 W. U.S. 40, that same year, taking over operations in July.
Members there will transfer over to the new wellness center early next year, Long said.
