Community plans $11.5M expansion of south-side Indy surgery center

Community Health Network is expanding a surgery center on the south side of Indianapolis by adding two operating rooms and seven patient rooms.

The Indianapolis-based hospital system broke ground Tuesday on the $11.5 million project at 1550 E. County Line Road. The work is expected to take 12 to 15 months to complete.

Community officials said they have outgrown the original facility and the project represents the first expansion since 2006. It will give the facility, called Community Surgery Center South, a total of nine operating rooms and 43 patient rooms. The front desk area and other parts of the building will also be remodeled.

Last year, the surgery center provided treatment for nearly 12,000 cases, Community said. It was originally built in the mid-1990s.

“We outgrew our original construction because of our dedicated staff, the faith of our surgeon partners and the needs of our patients,” Dr. Chadwick Strain, the surgery center’s medical director, said in written remarks.

With the nearly 7,000-square-foot expansion, the surgery century will stretch 38,533 square feet.

Construction will not disrupt patient services, the hospital system said. All seven existing operating rooms will be available for use during the construction project.

Correction: The original version of this story had an incorrect address for the surgery center.