BHS Selects Architects, Plans Expansion into Morgan Site

June 8, 2007 - (BUTLER, PA) - Butler Health System has selected architects for two of the key components of its evolving health system. It will be expanding through the purchase of the Morgan Building and property at the intersection of Route 422 and Route 68, just east of Butler and the current hospital campus.

Last evening, the BHS Board of Trustees accepted management’s recommendation to purchase the Morgan Building and surrounding property to become its next major outpatient center and to engage Burt Hill as its architect. It also engaged HGA and DesignGroup as architects for the new hospital’s acute care tower on the East Brady Street campus.

“We’re really excited because we are starting to move at top speed on the development of this new health system we promised this community,” said Ken DeFurio, President & CEO of Butler Health System.

The health system began to explore the purchase of the Morgan building as its next major outpatient facility a few months ago. The building and land will be purchased for $7.53 million, and construction will begin shortly. The building will be converted into a major outpatient delivery site complete with diagnostic testing, physicians’ offices and other outpatient services. The site is slated to open in late fall of 2007.

“When we announced our plan for a new healthcare system to the community in November, we outlined that it would have three major components: a new inpatient tower on East Brady Street, new major outpatient delivery locations in key places throughout the region and a sophisticated information management system that will tie it all together,” DeFurio explained.

“We began the outpatient network several years ago by opening the first phase of the Benbrook Medical Center, in conjunction with several of our physicians. We followed that with the opening of BHS WholeHealth in the Rose E. Schneider Family YMCA in Cranberry Township. Now, our next phase will be the development of the Morgan property.”

Local Butler-based architectural firm Burt Hill has been selected as the architect for the Morgan project.

“We’re pleased with our long-standing relationship with Butler Health System,” said John Kosar, principal with Burt Hill, “and look forward to being a part of the Morgan outpatient project.”

“The development of the Morgan property will help us decompress our current hospital campus quickly.” DeFurio said. “In essence, it will give us the opportunity to move just about everything ‘outpatient’ off of our current campus, leaving the current space for inpatient and emergency care. Not only can we develop the current Morgan building, but the location has 8.5 acres, giving us the opportunity for expansion. And, it has all of the necessary infrastructure already in place: roads, sewage, water and utilities. It allows us to move our overall health system project quickly. This also will minimize the disruption to the East Brady Street campus during construction.”

Two architectural firms working in sync with one another have been selected for the new inpatient tower project: HGA, a Minneapolis firm, and DesignGroup of Columbus, Ohio. Both firms have extensive experience in healthcare and have previously worked together on a number of projects. Among their projects are the Ross Heart Hospital at Ohio State University and St. Luke's Hospital in The Woodlands, Texas.

The selection process for the inpatient tower architect was a rigorous one, with the BHS Steering Committee starting with 33 firms, then narrowing it to 10 and then to 4.

“We then went on the road and visited facilities designed by each of the 4 finalists. This was extremely helpful in making our decision,” DeFurio said.

With the selection of architects for the inpatient campus, the East Brady Street project will now enter its next phase.