A rendering of HCA’s proposed new hospital near Ashland. (Images courtesy Hanover County)
A clearer picture has emerged of what healthcare giant HCA has in mind for its proposed Hanover hospital, as the project approaches a planning commission hearing this summer.
HCA plans to establish an 80,000-square-foot medical office building and “an outparcel with commercial or civic uses,” in addition to its proposed $233.6 million, 60-bed hospital on Sliding Hill Road just off of Interstate 95 near Ashland, according to a rezoning application received by Hanover County in early April.
The submission of HCA’s zoning request for the site follows the health system’s filing earlier this year of a separate application with the Virginia Department of Health seeking approval of the hospital itself.
A site plan dated March 29 also shows a portion of the property set aside for a second future medical office building as well as an area that would be saved for a potential expansion of the hospital. That expansion would provide space for the hospital to have up to 150 beds.
A March 2023 site plan of the proposed HCA hospital in Hanover County.
The first phase of the project is expected to include the 60-bed hospital and first medical office building, according to the rezoning application.
The beds would be split between 54 medical/surgical beds and six intensive-care beds. The hospital is also planned to include an MRI scanner, CT scanner, four general purpose operating rooms and a cardiac catheterization lab.
In addition to a rezoning request tied to the hospital and office space, HCA also has filed a conditional-use permit application for a helicopter landing pad. It also is seeking local approval of a height-exemption to allow the hospital to be built 58 feet high (five stories), which is normally too tall for development in the county’s business (B-2) district. It aims to rezone the property to B-2 from its current agricultural and B-3 designations.
HCA is scheduled to have its proposal reviewed by Hanover planning commissioners on July 20, according to a May 4 letter sent by the county to Andy Condlin of Roth Jackson Gibbons Condlin, who is representing HCA in its rezoning process.
A public hearing will precede the commission’s consideration of the project, which would then be heard by the Hanover Board of Supervisors at a later date.
An approval from the Virginia Department of Health also is needed to establish the hospital. HCA filed its application in January. It’s unclear when the health department will make a decision. VDH didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday. A determination hadn’t been made as of Wednesday afternoon, per VDH’s website.
HCA plans to buy the roughly 40-acre assemblage needed for its hospital from entities tied to the Pruitt family for $14.5 million. Among the four parcels included is 10054 Sliding Hill Road. Portions of two parcels that extend south of Sliding Hill Road aren’t part of the project area, according to a county-supplied map of the site.
The health system declined to comment for this story.
The hospital would be the first in Hanover County for the Virginia arm of HCA, which is based in Nashville, Tennessee, and operates six hospitals in the greater Richmond region.
HCA’s moves to establish a hospital in Hanover come as competitor Bon Secours expands its Mechanicsville hospital and plans a new free-standing emergency center in the county.
A rendering of HCA’s proposed new hospital near Ashland. (Images courtesy Hanover County)
A clearer picture has emerged of what healthcare giant HCA has in mind for its proposed Hanover hospital, as the project approaches a planning commission hearing this summer.
HCA plans to establish an 80,000-square-foot medical office building and “an outparcel with commercial or civic uses,” in addition to its proposed $233.6 million, 60-bed hospital on Sliding Hill Road just off of Interstate 95 near Ashland, according to a rezoning application received by Hanover County in early April.
The submission of HCA’s zoning request for the site follows the health system’s filing earlier this year of a separate application with the Virginia Department of Health seeking approval of the hospital itself.
A site plan dated March 29 also shows a portion of the property set aside for a second future medical office building as well as an area that would be saved for a potential expansion of the hospital. That expansion would provide space for the hospital to have up to 150 beds.
A March 2023 site plan of the proposed HCA hospital in Hanover County.
The first phase of the project is expected to include the 60-bed hospital and first medical office building, according to the rezoning application.
The beds would be split between 54 medical/surgical beds and six intensive-care beds. The hospital is also planned to include an MRI scanner, CT scanner, four general purpose operating rooms and a cardiac catheterization lab.
In addition to a rezoning request tied to the hospital and office space, HCA also has filed a conditional-use permit application for a helicopter landing pad. It also is seeking local approval of a height-exemption to allow the hospital to be built 58 feet high (five stories), which is normally too tall for development in the county’s business (B-2) district. It aims to rezone the property to B-2 from its current agricultural and B-3 designations.
HCA is scheduled to have its proposal reviewed by Hanover planning commissioners on July 20, according to a May 4 letter sent by the county to Andy Condlin of Roth Jackson Gibbons Condlin, who is representing HCA in its rezoning process.
A public hearing will precede the commission’s consideration of the project, which would then be heard by the Hanover Board of Supervisors at a later date.
An approval from the Virginia Department of Health also is needed to establish the hospital. HCA filed its application in January. It’s unclear when the health department will make a decision. VDH didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday. A determination hadn’t been made as of Wednesday afternoon, per VDH’s website.
HCA plans to buy the roughly 40-acre assemblage needed for its hospital from entities tied to the Pruitt family for $14.5 million. Among the four parcels included is 10054 Sliding Hill Road. Portions of two parcels that extend south of Sliding Hill Road aren’t part of the project area, according to a county-supplied map of the site.
The health system declined to comment for this story.
The hospital would be the first in Hanover County for the Virginia arm of HCA, which is based in Nashville, Tennessee, and operates six hospitals in the greater Richmond region.
HCA’s moves to establish a hospital in Hanover come as competitor Bon Secours expands its Mechanicsville hospital and plans a new free-standing emergency center in the county.
The 60-bed hospital should have large rooms built into it that can be converted into 200 to 300 beds should Covid or something else try to crack apart the hospital system like Covid did. It would be like the collapsible lifeboats on Titanic.
Hospitals hate competition. They love monopolies.Notice how the applications for new facilities follow the money. The official jargon is that those who cannot get insurance are referred to as “self-insured” and areas of high numbers of those are avoided like the plague. But the western burbs and Hanover to the north are “underserved” clientele. Clientele with solid insurance and cash. Follow the money!