VCU Health is seeking permission from the state to relocate the outpatient facility it had been planning for Courthouse Landing to another location nearby in Chesterfield County. (Jack Jacobs photo)
Citing delays and other challenges at the Courthouse Landing project in Chesterfield, VCU Health is looking to move a proposed outpatient medical center out of the mixed-use development to a site nearby.
The health system is seeking regulatory approval to relocate the yet-to-be-built surgery center to a property about a mile away near the intersection of Iron Bridge and Beach roads in Chesterfield County, according to its recently filed application with the Virginia Department of Health.
In addition to the request to relocate the project, VCU Health has also requested an extension on the construction timeline for the project. VCU Health currently anticipates the project to cost $33.5 million, several million dollars more than the price tag of $30.7 million associated with the project when it was first approved as part of Courthouse Landing.
VCU Health had been planning to build a 60,000-square-foot facility with four operating rooms and office space to anchor Courthouse Landing, which is envisioned as featuring at least 250,000 square feet of commercial space, a hotel and hundreds of residences on a 124-acre site at the intersection of Courthouse and Iron Bridge roads.
But due to “a variety of construction- and funding-related delays,” per the application, the health system would prefer to build the outpatient facility at another location on Iron Bridge Road.
VCU Health secured the state health commissioner’s approval for the outpatient facility at Courthouse Landing in 2021. In Virginia, certain medical facilities and equipment used to outfit health care centers must be approved through the state’s certificate of public need (COPN) regulatory process. Moving an approved project to a new location requires an OK from the state.
VCU Health’s request was under review by VDH staff as of earlier this week, Erik Bodin, the COPN division director, said on Monday. He said a final decision on the request would be made by State Health Commissioner Karen Shelton at a later date.
The health system said in its early June filing to the state it has faced numerous challenges in moving forward with its project at Courthouse Landing, including financial issues and the change in project developer, which VCU Health said hindered negotiations for a lease agreement for a site in the development.
“VCUHS has encountered several challenges beyond its control. These include challenges relating to delivery of the project, the appraised value of the land and associated closing challenges, and pandemic-related funding challenges (necessitating redeployment of resources) and the need to adjust to the post-pandemic construction market,” the filing read, using an acronym for the VCU Health System.
“VCUHS experienced an unplanned change in the project developer, which required VCUHS to renegotiate key elements of the project, including revisiting the ownership structure and the site chosen for the project.”
Courthouse Landing is being developed by a group of Florida-based developers that purchased the project site from the Chesterfield Economic Development Authority and a private owner in early 2023, by which time that team had taken over the project from Dunphy Properties and Shuler Properties. Dunphy and Shuler successfully rezoned the project site in mid-2020.
VCU Health’s new preferred site is a 6-acre site near the intersection of Beach Road and Iron Bridge Road.
The application doesn’t list a specific address for the new location. A map included in the application appears to show the proposed new site as being either in or close to the Ironwill Centre development, which has a First Watch and Chipotle and is near the Chesterfield government offices.
A map included in VCU Health’s request to relocate an outpatient facility from Courthouse Landing to a site near the Iron Bridge and Beach roads intersection. (Courtesy VDH)
The health system said in its application that the new site, being near the approved site at Courthouse Landing, would still meet patient demand that drove the original project and take pressure off VCU Health’s downtown surgical facilities. VCU Health stated in the application that it would own the land on which it would build the facility.
VCU Health declined to comment on its desire to relocate the outpatient project.
“(VCU Health) is always assessing its business plans and opportunities in a mission focused manner that keeps the best interest of our patients at the forefront. Specific details about this opportunity are still confidential,” VCU Health spokeswoman Danielle Pierce said in an email Tuesday.
Pierce didn’t respond to a question about what VCU Health would do should the state reject its request.
VCU Health’s plans to be part of Courthouse Landing motivated Chesterfield in 2022 to amend an already-in-place performance grant agreement for the project. It was unclear how the deal would be affected if VCU Health relocates the outpatient facility out of the development.
A Chesterfield spokesman referred comment to VCU Health.
VCU Health’s pivot comes less than a year after Courthouse Landing broke ground in October. It was unclear exactly how far along the project has come since the ground-breaking ceremony. By then site work was already underway.
Jeff Doxey of real estate firm NAI Dominion, which has been part of the project since its inception, didn’t respond to requests for comment for this story.
The development team previously told BizSense that it intended to complete the site work and infrastructure at the property, and would then sell off individual parcels of the overall site to other firms to handle their own construction projects.
Work crews and equipment were present at the site Tuesday morning. Since October, building permits and site plans have been filed for a Virginia Credit Union, Panera Bread, Sheetz, Outback Steakhouse and residential units, according to online records.
VCU Health is seeking permission from the state to relocate the outpatient facility it had been planning for Courthouse Landing to another location nearby in Chesterfield County. (Jack Jacobs photo)
Citing delays and other challenges at the Courthouse Landing project in Chesterfield, VCU Health is looking to move a proposed outpatient medical center out of the mixed-use development to a site nearby.
The health system is seeking regulatory approval to relocate the yet-to-be-built surgery center to a property about a mile away near the intersection of Iron Bridge and Beach roads in Chesterfield County, according to its recently filed application with the Virginia Department of Health.
In addition to the request to relocate the project, VCU Health has also requested an extension on the construction timeline for the project. VCU Health currently anticipates the project to cost $33.5 million, several million dollars more than the price tag of $30.7 million associated with the project when it was first approved as part of Courthouse Landing.
VCU Health had been planning to build a 60,000-square-foot facility with four operating rooms and office space to anchor Courthouse Landing, which is envisioned as featuring at least 250,000 square feet of commercial space, a hotel and hundreds of residences on a 124-acre site at the intersection of Courthouse and Iron Bridge roads.
But due to “a variety of construction- and funding-related delays,” per the application, the health system would prefer to build the outpatient facility at another location on Iron Bridge Road.
VCU Health secured the state health commissioner’s approval for the outpatient facility at Courthouse Landing in 2021. In Virginia, certain medical facilities and equipment used to outfit health care centers must be approved through the state’s certificate of public need (COPN) regulatory process. Moving an approved project to a new location requires an OK from the state.
VCU Health’s request was under review by VDH staff as of earlier this week, Erik Bodin, the COPN division director, said on Monday. He said a final decision on the request would be made by State Health Commissioner Karen Shelton at a later date.
The health system said in its early June filing to the state it has faced numerous challenges in moving forward with its project at Courthouse Landing, including financial issues and the change in project developer, which VCU Health said hindered negotiations for a lease agreement for a site in the development.
“VCUHS has encountered several challenges beyond its control. These include challenges relating to delivery of the project, the appraised value of the land and associated closing challenges, and pandemic-related funding challenges (necessitating redeployment of resources) and the need to adjust to the post-pandemic construction market,” the filing read, using an acronym for the VCU Health System.
“VCUHS experienced an unplanned change in the project developer, which required VCUHS to renegotiate key elements of the project, including revisiting the ownership structure and the site chosen for the project.”
Courthouse Landing is being developed by a group of Florida-based developers that purchased the project site from the Chesterfield Economic Development Authority and a private owner in early 2023, by which time that team had taken over the project from Dunphy Properties and Shuler Properties. Dunphy and Shuler successfully rezoned the project site in mid-2020.
VCU Health’s new preferred site is a 6-acre site near the intersection of Beach Road and Iron Bridge Road.
The application doesn’t list a specific address for the new location. A map included in the application appears to show the proposed new site as being either in or close to the Ironwill Centre development, which has a First Watch and Chipotle and is near the Chesterfield government offices.
A map included in VCU Health’s request to relocate an outpatient facility from Courthouse Landing to a site near the Iron Bridge and Beach roads intersection. (Courtesy VDH)
The health system said in its application that the new site, being near the approved site at Courthouse Landing, would still meet patient demand that drove the original project and take pressure off VCU Health’s downtown surgical facilities. VCU Health stated in the application that it would own the land on which it would build the facility.
VCU Health declined to comment on its desire to relocate the outpatient project.
“(VCU Health) is always assessing its business plans and opportunities in a mission focused manner that keeps the best interest of our patients at the forefront. Specific details about this opportunity are still confidential,” VCU Health spokeswoman Danielle Pierce said in an email Tuesday.
Pierce didn’t respond to a question about what VCU Health would do should the state reject its request.
VCU Health’s plans to be part of Courthouse Landing motivated Chesterfield in 2022 to amend an already-in-place performance grant agreement for the project. It was unclear how the deal would be affected if VCU Health relocates the outpatient facility out of the development.
A Chesterfield spokesman referred comment to VCU Health.
VCU Health’s pivot comes less than a year after Courthouse Landing broke ground in October. It was unclear exactly how far along the project has come since the ground-breaking ceremony. By then site work was already underway.
Jeff Doxey of real estate firm NAI Dominion, which has been part of the project since its inception, didn’t respond to requests for comment for this story.
The development team previously told BizSense that it intended to complete the site work and infrastructure at the property, and would then sell off individual parcels of the overall site to other firms to handle their own construction projects.
Work crews and equipment were present at the site Tuesday morning. Since October, building permits and site plans have been filed for a Virginia Credit Union, Panera Bread, Sheetz, Outback Steakhouse and residential units, according to online records.
Health care should come from the private sector. Unfortunately, Obamacare, state “healthcare systems” and the bureaucracies that bungled the response to Covid have become the norm in modern society. Nobody even bats an eye at these government expenditures.