New Oldham County hospital with investment target of $250M

New Oldham County hospital with investment target of $250M

Plans have just been announced to build a new hospital in the Crestwood area of Oldham County. Louisville Business First ran the preceding article and an article in 2020 on the proposed Clore Station Development in Crestwood where the hospital would be built. The roughly 482-acre Clore Farm is spread across three corners of exit 14 in Oldham County in Crestwood. Owned by current members of the Clore family, the firm of DPZ — a global planning firm that helped map out Louisville’s Norton Commons and several other new urbanism developments — was hired in 2018 to develop a Master Plan for the roughly 482-acre property. The site was being considered for a huge mixed-use development with residential and commercial components. The Clore family has owned the property since 1808. The site has remained farmland over the years, but the family has known for some time that the land likely would be developed one day. This story was also covered in the news by WLKY, WDRB, www.msn.com news, The Courier Journal and The Lane Report.

By Laurel Deppen  –  Reporter
Louisville Business First
May 11, 2022

Baptist Health has purchased 55 acres of property with the intent to build a new medical campus with a “next generation” hospital in Oldham County. The development is expected to begin in the next two years.

The hospital will be built in the future Clore Station development, off I-71 and KY 329 at Exit 14 in Crestwood. The development is a former family-owned farm which has been slated for a walkable retail, commercial, hospitality and residential area. (You can read more about this here.)

Forty-three of the acres Baptist acquired are part of the Clore Station development. It purchased the property for more than $16 million from the Clore Family and Jones Group. The hospital system previously purchased 11 acres of property adjacent to it, Dr. Jody Prather, chief strategy and marketing officer for Baptist Health, said in an interview with Business First.

The campus will include a hospital, offering both inpatient and surgical services, “and healthcare community focused on bringing wellness services to Oldham County,” according to a news release.

Plans for the facility and the services it will offer are still being developed. The target investment cost is $250 million, but Prather anticipates that number to change as Baptist develops the campus over time.

“It doesn’t take very sophisticated analytics to show that that area is growing and is going to continue to grow,” Prather said. “This is an investment in the health of that community.”

Prather expects the hospital to have 90 beds and create hundreds of jobs.

The full campus will include the hospital and a traditional medical office building. But Prather says Baptist Health is trying to be more creative in the long term.

“We really want to create a wellness community, so a lot of the acreage that we’re using…could be senior services, senior living,” Prather said.

“We certainly would be interested in looking at a fitness facility for the community, some of those kinds of things.”

The hospital system plans to hold listening sessions for the community to share their needs and wants for the project.

A timeline for development hasn’t been set, but if approved, Baptist expects it to begin within the next two years.

“Baptist Health is always looking for opportunities to provide outstanding care closer to home for our patients,” Baptist CEO Gerard Colman said in the release.

“Oldham County, and the surrounding region, is one of the fastest growing in the state. We are excited to have this opportunity to design and build a next-generation hospital and outpatient facilities, fully tailored to serving the area for years to come.” 

Baptist operates the only hospital in Oldham County, Baptist Health La Grange, which services residents in Oldham, Henry, Trimble, Carroll and Shelby counties. It anticipates to reimagine the services Baptist Health La Grange provides. Investing in both locations will lead to growth and increased access to health care across the I-71 corridor, the release states.

“The intent is that the new campus will provide higher levels of care, while future developments to the La Grange campus will allow us to expand outpatient services,” Clint Kaho, president of Baptist Health La Grange, said in the release.

The preliminary rendering was designed by HKS Architects. Baptist is currently in the RFP process for an architect on the full project. Prather said Baptist hopes to get an architect selected and begin the design phase within the next few months.

After the architect is selected, Baptist will begin the search for a contractor and construction firm.

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