Springhill Group : Docs eager to get in on Spring Hill ER facility

SPRING HILL — Centennial Medical Center officials expect to start construction in the spring on a free-standing emergency medical facility that will be about 20,000 square feet bigger than originally planned.

Also, the roughly 50,800-square-foot building will be three stories, instead of two, to accommodate a growing number of physicians who, according to Centennial President and CEO Tom Herron, want to be part of the long-awaited project.

“There’s been even more interest than we anticipated,” he said. “That’s why we sort of stepped back and asked, ‘Is this big enough?’ We want to accommodate the need and the potential need for this in Spring Hill.”

The initial plans for the ER came to Spring Hill in June 2010, roughly nine months after a Davidson County Chancery Court ruling overturned approval of a 56-bed hospital on the same property off Kedron Road, which was given by the state Health Services Development Agency.

People such as Carl Brown of the Burwood community in rural southern Williamson County have been hoping a hospital would be built since that first HSDA approval in April 2006. The retiree said he’s still optimistic it could happen.

“I had a phone call just the other day from a friend wanting to know if they would ever consider going back and trying to get a hospital,” he said. “Personally, I wish they would try again. I think it’s needed. It may be a year or two out, but I think they’ll try again. At least I hope so.”

Herron agreed that HCA TriStar is still interested in building a hospital there.

“We would wrap the hospital around that, if we are ever approved,” he said. “We’ll start serving the city of Spring Hill first and see how those plans develop in the future.”

For now, Centennial officials are focusing on the site plan for the ER, which the Spring Hill Group Planning Commission will review in December.

Herron said they are a few months away from having the architectural plan complete. With that, and with all the required city approvals, construction could start in April or May.

The facility could open in the first quarter of 2013, Herron said. The ER would account for 10,000 square feet on the first floor. A 5,000-square-foot adjoining building will house physicians’ offices. The rest of the space will be for primary- and specialty-care doctors.