Wheeler Health announced Wednesday it is moving forward with plans to purchase a piece of property in Bristol’s Centre Square area and will build an approximately 35,000-square-foot community health center and corporate headquarters there.
In a statement, the Plainville-based health services provider said it will buy a 1.3-acre lot between North Main and Hope streets, in a stretch of downtown targeted by municipal officials for revitalization. Bristol’s city council voted last week to approve the sale of the plot to Wheeler for $600,000.
Construction is set to begin this spring, with the goal of opening the new center to patients by the spring of 2023.
Wheeler said it will relocate services currently provided through health centers at 10 and 225 North Main St. to the new building, along with administrative departments, which will occupy the upper floors. In all, more than 200 full- and part-time employees will be based at the site.
“When we opened our first health center in 2013, in Bristol, we were able to accommodate everything at 10 North Main Street,” said Wheeler President and CEO Sabrina Trocchi. “Today, with our patient base growing so much, we sometimes find they have to go to two buildings for care, which is not ideal or convenient. Now, we’ll have our full continuum of services right down the hallway, with a warm handoff of services for the whole family in one place.”
Services currently provided at the existing North Main Street locations — and which would be moved to the new health center — include adult primary care, pediatrics, behavioral health and psychiatry, addiction treatment, nutrition and LGBTQIA-responsive services.
Wheeler expects to fund the project through a combination of loans, allocations from its endowment, private giving and public grants, and has launched a four-year, $500,000 fundraising campaign to support the effort. The organization has already raised nearly $280,000 of that goal in gifts and pledges from donors and philanthropic investors.
The Wheeler Board of Trustees has established a $100,000 goal for its members as part of the campaign.
