NEW PALESTINE — Hancock Health already has spent millions on its strategy to expand in western Hancock County. On Tuesday, it staked another claim to serve the fast-growing western townships.
Hancock Health broke ground for its new Hancock Gateway South complex in New Palestine, a project that will offer physician offices, a wellness center, labs and physical therapy. The project, at U.S. 52 and Mt. Comfort Road, also includes space for future development.
The project is expected to cost approximately $30 million and be completed by the end of 2020, Hancock Health CEO Steve Long said. Contractor Corna Kokosing has been chosen to build the facility.
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The facility will combine Hancock Health’s current New Palestine physician offices with the Hancock Wellness Center now located at County Road 500W and U.S. 40; the hospital system purchased the Family Fun and Fitness gym in 2018.
The location will have approximately 60 total employees.
At the groundbreaking, attended by several dozen officials, members of the hospital board and other interested people, New Palestine Town Council member Jan Jarson described the new facility as an investment in the future of the community.
“We look forward to a long and healthy relationship,” Jarson said.
Dr. Elizabeth Blachly, a New Palestine member of the Hancock Physicians Network, said doctors are looking forward to the opportunities the new facility will offer to provide more care for patients.
“We look forward to continuing to serve our communities as health care professionals and count it a privilege that our work encompasses loving our patients and their families, and delivering acts of kindness one person at a time,” Blachly said.
Randy Sorrell, director of the Hancock Economic Development Council, said he expects the development to be a catalyst for other businesses to move or expand in New Palestine.
“From an economic development point of view, I will tell you, I love nothing more than to see big yellow heavy equipment, lots of dirt getting moved around. That means good things are happening in our community,” Sorrell said.
Hancock County Commissioner Brad Armstrong said New Palestine residents can be cautious about new developments, but Hancock Health has been welcomed with open arms.
“We all know in New Pal, we really like our little corner of Hancock County and we’re very particular about what goes on here, but this is something that I think will be welcomed by everybody. I think this will be a fantastic asset,” Armstrong said.
New Palestine residents and parents Josh and Danielle Daugherty, who grew up in the town, said it was exciting to see a location that had been a corn field for the majority of their lives become an investment in community health.
“We grew up here, we decided to come back and raise our family here, and for the future of our lives as well as our kids, we can’t be excited enough to welcome something like this to our community,” Josh Daugherty said.
Long said the facility will also act as a gateway for future development in New Palestine, much like the newly opened Gateway Hancock Health campus at Mt. Comfort Road and Interstate 70, about six miles north. The hospital has purchased approximately 50 acres of land for the campus, with about 10 acres being needed for the facility’s footprint.
“Hancock County is very vibrant, a lot of things are going on, and Hancock Health has been an enormously successful and helpful partner in that process,” Sorrell said. “I’ve been in this county for a long time, and to see what used to be Hancock Memorial Hospital become this wonderfully regionalized suburban health organization with the growth of the hospital and these wellness facilities, it’s going to make life better and better for those of us who live here, and we’ll live longer and healthier lives because of it.”