BJC plans to build doctors building next to Memorial Hospital East in Shiloh

The Shiloh Planning Commission on Monday unanimously approved a planned unit development and special use applications submitted by BJC HealthCare to construct a $22 million office building next to Memorial Hospital East. The Planning Commission gave its approval after a public hearing held at village hall. The Village Board of Trustees is expected to give the final okay on Aug. 1 during the next regular board meeting.

“This looks like a great addition to the village,” Brian Manion, village planning commission chariman, said.

Planning Commission board member Howard Steffey concurred. “All the village residents I have spoken to are very excited about BJC being in our community,” he said.

“We look forward to moving the process along,” said June Fowler, BJC HealthCare representative.

In May, BJC HealthCare and Memorial filed a certificate of need application with the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board to erect its first Medical Office Building after its recent partnership with Memorial Hospital East became official in January.

A nonprofit jointly owned parent organization, Memorial Regional Health Services, will oversee hospitals in Belleville, Shiloh, outpatient facilities and the community foundation. Memorial and BJC HeathCare’s strategic affiliation became official in January.

Memorial Hospital East’s administrator Ruth Holmes said she is excited about the BJC-Memorial partnership finally starting to take shape.

“We are so pleased to be working with the village again enhancing the campus at Memorial East. It’s a great time, and it’s a great time to be in health care,” she said.

Making improvements for the Shiloh and O’Fallon community is another benefit of this project, according to Holmes.

“You saw tonight there is easily plans to put in a second building in the future, but right now it’s still too preliminary to discuss,” she said.

BJC Healthcare Senior Project Manager Shawn Gillam confirmed there is no set timeline for the phase two portion of the master plan, which is expected to include a second medical office building on the campus next door to the first medical office building, but it is in the long range plan as long as there is a need. “We usually have them fill the current building (in this case the planned medical office building one) is at least at 50 percent occupancy before making hard plans on additional structures — it’s all dependent on whether there is a need. So it could be next year, two years or longer before another will be needed,” Gillam said.

Gregory Garner, of Belleville based Arch Images Architecture firm, said the location for the phase two facility will be landscaped with grass and shrubbery. The new office building will be built east of the hospital on the 94-acre site of the existing Memorial Hospital East campus at 1404 Cross Street. It is bordered to the north by Interstate 64 right of way, to the west by Cross Street, to the south by the proposed Frank Scott Parkway, and to the east by undeveloped property in O’Fallon.

Swansea-based Holland Construction Services has been selected to build the three-story, 70,622-square-foot building, which is owned by Memorial Regional Health Services. Stock & Associates Consulting Engineers Inc of St. Louis, Mo. provided engineering service to Memorial East and BJC jointly.

“It has a footprint of 23,750 square feet,” George Stock, of Stock & Associates, said. “There will be a detention basin for the parking lot and a total of 1,095 parking spaces, and we are requesting construction access road to the east of the southerly lake.”

Included in the plans is construction of a surface parking lot and stormwater management facilities. Adjacent to a large lake on the campus, Village Clerk Brenda Kern said the view for patients and the office building staff will be “beautiful.”

Some variance requests were made including the request to not include bicycle paths within the development as it could be a safety concern on the proposed pedestrian paths, especially for the elderly or infirmed.

The certificate of need application is expected to be reviewed by the state health board at its August meeting. If approved, construction would begin later this year with completion slated for fourth quarter 2017.

“They are hoping to start moving dirt in September if everything goes as planned, which wouldn’t surprise me,” John Marquart, village administrator, said. “It’s really a no-brainer. They have all their ducks in a row.”

This story was originally published July 12, 2016 at 3:43 PM with the headline "BJC plans to build doctors building next to Memorial Hospital East in Shiloh."