NEW PALESTINE — Hancock Health owns about 66 acres at U.S. 52 and Mt. Comfort Road, and it’s only using about 10 of them for its new health care hub.
It remains to be determined exactly what will go on the rest of it, but the health care provider says there’s plenty of interest. Now standards are in place to guide what will come.
Hancock Health’s $33 million facility underway in New Palestine, called Hancock Gateway South, will include a wellness center, physician offices, a laboratory and physical therapy center. It could be completed by the end of this year. The company plans to see the property’s remaining acreage to the south developed for a variety of purposes, creating what it’s calling Healthway Park. It’s similar to Hancock Health’s plans at its Gateway Hancock Health location several miles north on Mt. Comfort Road near Interstate 70. (A story about progress on that development appeared in the Daily Reporter on July 23.)
New Palestine officials approved measures earlier this month establishing standards and regulations that will govern future development across the entire site.
Rob Matt, senior vice president of Hancock Regional Hospital, said at a New Palestine Plan Commission meeting that the health care hub sets the bar high for developments to follow.
“We’ve had a number of people interested in coming to our ground to develop, and frankly some of them have had to walk away because we’ve said we’re setting the bar pretty high,” Matt said. “This isn’t going to be your everyday park. It’s got to fit in with the community; it’s got to fit in with the building. So be ready to do that if you’re coming.”
Harold Gibson of Greenfield-based H. Gibson Land Surveying, Inc., representing Hancock Health, said at the plan commission meeting that the standards and documents address things like streets, utilities, drainage and landscaping, among others. They also establish uses that would be permitted, like medical facilities, nursing homes and residences. The measures establish uses that would not be permitted as well, like automobile sales, storage warehouses and filling stations.
Rawn Walley, president of the New Palestine Plan Commission, is one of the town officials who supports Hancock Health’s plans.
“You look at the list, there’s everything in the world that’s included in that, so that’s a little bit scary, but as they’ve already alluded to, they’ve already scratched out things that are not acceptable to us, and to them, and in the hopes that we continue to keep up the high standards,” he said at the plan commission meeting. “They are definitely a friend of New Palestine, for sure.”
Hospital representatives emphasized the measures didn’t allow future developments to come in without approvals from officials or opportunities for feedback from the public.
Greg Spivey, who lives near the proposed development, said at the meeting that he opposes apartments being among the possibilities for the future of the site.
“I’m very much in favor of this project overall,” Spivey said. “I’ve reviewed the standards, and there’s no question they went above and beyond on the architectural standards, and as far as that goes, the whole thing.”
He said apartments could put a strain on emergency services and local schools.
“I see absolutely no benefit to the community to have apartments” among the potential uses at the site, Spivey said.
