It's part of our growth. It's part of … trying to bring services to those patients.
Erlanger Health System plans to put a full-service outpatient cancer center into a new office building slated for its Gunbarrel Road campus.
"It's a significant move for patients having to go for treatment on an outpatient basis," said Britt Tabor, Erlanger's executive vice president and chief financial officer. "Patients won't have to come downtown."
Erlanger is expected to take up three floors of a four-story, $18 million office building planned for the Erlanger Hospital East campus, officials said. Stewart Smith, principal for Birmingham developer Johnson Development, said company officials are looking to put physicians' offices on the top floor of the structure.
The new 80,000-square-foot office building will be Johnson Development's third on the campus, he said. Erlanger is leasing space in the other buildings, as it will in the new structure.
Tabor said Erlanger expects to add about 50 people as it expands its cancer services to the East Brainerd area and not close anything at its main campus on East Third Street.
"We're keeping all our cancer services downtown," he said.
Tabor said the new facility will be "an excellent option, more convenient and user friendly" to people living in the East Brainerd area.
"This is another access point for that community," he said.
To move the project ahead, Erlanger is seeking an Aquatic Resource Alteration Permit from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. The building would impact 1.25 acres of wetlands on the planned wooded construction site off Gunbarrel Road, but Erlanger has agreed to purchase 2.5 credits in exchange from the Sequatchie Valley Wetland Mitigation bank to compensate for the new building.
Also, plans are to install a naturalized basin contributing to on-site filtration on the building tract.
Tabor said he doesn't foresee any problems gaining the permit.
"There are no outstanding questions," he said.
Plans are for work to start in July with construction taking from 14 to 16 months. The center will offer services such as imaging, radiation therapy, and infusions, as well as physician offices, Tabor said.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.