Small Town News

Scott White searching for new hospital site

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Scott & White Healthcare officials said Monday their decision to find another location for the future Lake of the Hills Regional Medical Center should help them move faster to establish a full-service hospital in Marble Falls.

Dissatisfied with the progress the property owner/developer is making to make the site ready for construction, the Temple-based company Friday terminated its agreement to buy the land near the northwest corner of SH 71 and US 281 from Crossroads, a group represented by Horseshoe Bay resident Sam Martin.

"We're viewing this not as a set-back, but as an opportunity to move faster," said Peter Brumleve, chief strategy officer for Scott & White, which partnered with Llano Memorial Healthcare System in April 2008 to jointly own and operate the $140 million nonprofit medical complex. "We are just as excited as ever and we are just as committed."

Brumleve said he is "confident" that land can be acquired nearby "so that all the work and investment the City of Marble Falls has made will still be relevant to the hospital."

Wayne Anderson, chairman of the Lake of the Hills board, added that several contacts with other landowners and developers nearby were already being initiated Monday. "Until we terminated the agreement, we weren't allowed to talk to other developers," Brumleve said. "But we began our search today in Marble Falls and are talking to new potential developers."

The City of Marble Falls is ahead of schedule with its 11-phase, multi-million-dollar project--extending water and wastewater lines south to serve the hospital, Flatrock Springs and Crossroads developments--and considers Scott & White's move to be "a good thing," said Ralph Hendricks, Marble Falls interim city manager.

"I think we can work with Scott & White on parallel tracks," Hendricks said, adding that the city should not have to halt or modify its water/wastewater line extension project, scheduled to be completed before the end of the year.

Hendricks and Scott Liles, associate executive director of facilities for Scott & White, both said they do not expect the land search to delay construction of the medical center. Liles repeated a promise by Scott & White to local officials to begin building within 90 days after road and utility work is completed.

Martin, along with Armand and Molly Bi-glari, of Lakes and Hills Development, donated 18 acres to LMHS about four years ago under the stipulation that the land would be used for a hospital. LMHS partnered with Scott & White in 2008 and last March Scott & White placed a down payment on 22 acres adjacent to the land already donated.

Before the purchase was completed, Crossroads was to make various improvements onsite, some of which were roads, sidewalks, electrical connections and drainage systems.

"We became concerned almost immediately that the projects were not being executed," Brumleve said. "We didnt get a lot of positive feedback from the developer."

However, Martin, of Crossroads, said he didnt receive positive feedback from Scott & White, either. Though he admitted Crossroads "didnt perform in accordance with die strict terms of the contract," he said he needed more time to secure funding and determine exactiy what needed to be provided.

"We had not come to an understanding about what they (Scott & White) needed us to do when they made the decision to throw out everything from the last three years," Martin said. "We were taken by surprise and this makes absolutely no sense to us whatsoever. ... We were working hand-in-hand with these people right up to the last minute tiiat they chose to do whatever they're doing.

"We are still more than ready and willing and able to make the improvements as soon as we can find what improvements are required and secure the money. If we can get a firm commitment from Scott & White about when they will break ground on the full-service hospital, we can come up with the money."

"The escrow money has been returned to Scott & White because the developer was unable to do the developments," Brumleve said. "We decided, since the developer could not get some of tiiese improvements done in a timely fashion, we would have to find another piece of land."

He added that before the acquisition was terminated, Scott & White even offered to build out the infrastructure itself if Martin would reduce the land price accordingly.

Liles flatly denied Martin's claim that Scott & White isnt interested in vigorously moving the project forward in a soft economy, citing the group's investment in the regional center thus far and its interest in speeding up the pace of development.

Rhona Williams London, director of public/media relations for Scott & White, said a specialty clinic will first be constructed on the medical center campus. Such facilities commonly appear prior to new hospitals so physicians can establish themselves in the community and build a support base.

Liles added that hospital construction tiien typically begins 90-120 days after supporting clinical facilities are completed.

The future Lake of die Hills Regional Medical Center is expected to have about 100 beds and more than 250,000 square feet of space. The list of services in the plan include a 24-hour emergency department, cardiac services, operating rooms, maternity services, all supported by comprehensive state-of-the-art imaging technology and otiier diagnostic services.



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© 2010 Burnet Bulletin Burnet, Texas. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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