Closing in on a Brownsburg site for Hendricks Regional’s $40M facility

A piece of vacant farmland on the east side of Brownsburg could become the site of Hendricks Regional Health’s new $40 million emergency room and outpatient center.

The health center is still negotiating with one of the property owners, but would like to close soon, said Gary Everling, chief strategy officer for the Danville-based health system, in a recent interview.

The property is located on the northwest corner of Interstate 74 and Ronald Reagan Parkway, he said.

Hendricks Regional announced plans last year for the 100,000-square-foot medical facility. It is slated to open next year, and will include women’s health serves, a retail pharmacy, imaging and lab services. It would employ about 110 people.

Selecting a site off a busy interstate is not a big surprise. Hendricks Regional has said all along its goal is to create a facility that’s easy to get in and out of. The property, near exit 68, appears to be undeveloped farmland for hundreds of acres in all directions.

The health system has already received permission from the town of Brownsburg for entrance and exit roads, but has yet to close the deal with an unidentified property owner.

“This is all contingent on final negotiations,” Everling said.

Hendricks Regional is just the latest health system in Central Indiana preparing to construct new facilities. Roughly $900 million in health care projects in Indiana were either started or soon to start, according to statistics released last year by Revista, a Maryland-based market research company specializing in health care.

Still, the investment represents a big bet for Hendricks Regional. Its operations generated $463.6 million in 2014, up about 11 percent from a year earlier. But its operating income – or operating revenues minus operating expenses — fell about 18 percent during the same period, to $31.5 million.

Hendricks Regional hopes the new facility will help it capitalize on an underserved part of the state’s second-fastest-growing county. Brownsburg, with a population of 23,000, has grown 56 percent since 2000.

It would be the biggest health facility in the city, which is home to medical offices operated by St. Vincent Health and Hendricks Regional.