Crowd of 230 Attends Hospital Groundbreaking in Williamsburg

By Amber Lester Kennedy Wednesday, July 13, 2011

 

Tuesday was a day Riverside Chief Executive Officer Rick Pearce was told he would never see.

Standing at a podium at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Doctors Hospital, Pearce surveyed the sweaty crowd fanning themselves and said, “A competitor, which shall remain nameless, said it would be a cold day in hell before this hospital got built … I guess with this weather, we have evidence of what that will be like.”

His joke received big laughs and applause, partly because the audience members had waited nearly a decade to see the hospital become a reality. Riverside began its efforts to build a hospital, which will compete with Sentara Williamsburg Community Hospital in upper York County, eight years ago. Development was delayed as Riverside worked to demonstrate a need for medical care in the city. The state health commissioner approved its Certificate of Need in May 2009 after citizens mailed 2,500 letters of support. The letters “tipped the scale in our favor,” said William Downey, president of the Riverside Health System.

About 230 people came to the groundbreaking site on Route 60, just off Route 199, on Tuesday. The crowd included both current and former leaders who have guided the project in its eight years of development. Seventeen of them put on hard hats and pushed shovels into the ground.

On its 380 acres between Route 60 and Route 199, Riverside plans to build not only the hospital, but a development that will include commercial business, retail and residential development. Site work construction began in October 2010 and a site plan for the hospital was submitted to the city on Feb. 14.

 

Doctors Hospital will take up 27 acres. The two-story, 100,000-square-foot facility will have 40 in-patient beds, six intensive-care rooms, a same-day surgery unit, a 24-hour emergency care center with 12 treatment rooms, a diagnostic center, a lifelong health center and plans to offer cardiac catheterization, pending state approval. The facility will serve the health needs of baby boomers, but has room for expansion if necessary. Construction is estimated to be complete by winter 2012.

 

Mayor Clyde Haulman spoke about the benefits of having a hospital to serve the city, the college and tourists. “We need and deserve a choice of healthcare facilities,” he said, adding that when a loved one is ill, no one wants to lose precious time traveling.

The hospital will cost $65 million, including equipment costs, and will employ 200-300 people with a payroll of $10-$15 million. The promise of new jobs and business fulfills a 26-year goal for the city. City Manager Jack Tuttle told the audience the city had a vision for that area to bring more employment opportunities. In 1984, the city annexed the land and in 1989, its land use was designated as “economic development” in the comprehensive plan. “Fifteen years later, Riverside stepped up to that vision,” he said.