Palmetto Health to Further Expand at Parkridge Site

By Eliza Theiss, Associate Editor

The Columbia City Planning Commission has approved Palmetto Health’s newest expansion plans. According to the Columbia Regional Business Report, the Planning Commission has given its approval for the health care provider’s plans to build an 80,000-square-foot medical building near Irmo, S.C. at the Parkridge site, where the Palmetto Health Baptist Parkridge Hospital is currently under construction.

Palmetto Health’s newest project is an Ambulatory Services Building, a structure that will mainly house physician’s practices. The four-story building will take up 10 acres at the Parkridge site—a 75-acre medical campus. Groundbreaking is set to take place in about two months, with work slated to wrap before the new hospital opens in December 2013.

The Parkridge hospital currently under construction is Palmetto Health’s first full-service medical facility to be built since the 1988 merger between the Richland and Baptist hospitals that created Palmetto Health. The 224,590-square-foot hospital rising at I-26 and Lake Murray Boulevard will offer state-of-the-art inpatient and emergency care.

According to Palmetto Health’s website, the 76-bed, four-story hospital will provide services such as: non-invasive cardiology, endocrinology, ear, nose and throat, gastroenterology, general medicine, general surgery, intensive care, OBGYN, orthopedics, plastic surgery, pulmonary medicine, urology and outpatient rehabilitation. It will also have an 24-hour emergency department, a labor and delivery unit, newborn nursery, four operating rooms and imaging, laboratory and pharmacy services.

The $99 million hospital will create 400 full-time jobs after completion, as well as a high number of construction and construction-related jobs during development. The developers expect the project to significantly impact the area’s economy, as spin-off businesses such as medical equipment suppliers, physician offices, restaurants and hotels, are expected to cluster around the campus.

According to Palmetto Health’s website, the Parkridge medical campus will be pedestrian-friendly and will offer ample living and green space. The restricted number of curb cuts will improve traffic flow. In 2011, developers had already invested over $2 million in road improvements around the campus.

The hospital and the ambulatory services building will be connected by an elevated walkway.  The building’s cost has yet to be released.

Photo credit: Palmetto Health Baptist Parkridge