Aurora reveals more details on hospital

Grafton facility will add to rapidly growing retail area

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, September 26, 2007

By LAWRENCE SUSSMAN
lsussman@journalsentinel.com

Grafton - Aurora Health Care said Tuesday that it plans to build its new hospital on a 105-acre site northwest of Highway 60 and Port Washington Road.

The health care system is building the hospital as part of its pending acquisition of Advanced Healthcare, the area's largest physician group. Many of the 250 physicians in that group are expected to provide a referral base for the new hospital.

Aurora would not disclose its current estimate on the new hospital's cost. But it paid $6.36 million, or $87,000 an acre, for 73 acres of the 105-acre parcel, the Ozaukee County Register of Deeds office said Tuesday.

The medical center will be four stories and 480,000 square feet, including 400,000 square feet for the hospital and 80,000 square feet for a medical office building. The hospital initially will have 89 single-bed patient rooms.

Columbia St. Mary's hospital in Mequon - less than five miles away - will have 573,500 square feet of space with its recent $72 million expansion. That project is expected to be completed next week.

The hospital will have 159 single-bed patient rooms and could add 64 patient rooms on two floors set aside for future expansion, said Kathy Schmitz, a spokeswoman for Columbia St. Mary's.

"With the new bed tower opening and our ability to add new beds when they are needed, we will be able to serve Ozaukee County and the surrounding communities for many years to come," Schmitz said.

The Grafton hospital will be the second that Aurora plans to build within five miles of existing hospitals in affluent Milwaukee suburbs. Aurora also is building a 110-bed hospital near I-94 and Highway 67 in Summit, close to Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital - estimated to cost $189 million, not including projected losses in its first few years of operation.

Aurora's competitors and critics contend that the two new hospitals will duplicate existing services and raise health care costs. But Aurora and its supporters contend that the moves will increase competition in the Milwaukee area.

"We have been so pleased with the response to our Grafton plans," Nick Turkal, a doctor and chief executive officer of Aurora Health Care, said in a news release.

The planned hospital will be accessible from Highway 60 and Port Washington Road.

The new Aurora hospital will have a 24-hour emergency department and a Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic. The hospital also will include all single-patient rooms, kitchenettes for patients and family members, family lounges and resource libraries.

About 600 people are expected to work at the medical center when it opens.

The complex will include 27 acres in the Village of Grafton formerly owned by Told Development Co. of Minneapolis, and 73 acres in the Town of Grafton formerly owned by Druthers LLC, Grafton Village Administrator Darrell Hofland said Tuesday.

Aurora paid $6.36 million for the Druthers parcel. The deed on the 27-acre parcel has not been filed.

The Aurora complex would be across the street from a new Costco Wholesale Corp. store - part of the Grafton Commons retail development - and would become part of one of the fastest-growing commercial corridors in the region.

Costco paid $4.2 million for slightly more than 21 acres - or $197,000 per acre, according to the county register of deeds.

Grafton officials believe that the recently improved road system in the area could handle the traffic from the Aurora medical center and the nearby commercial complexes, Hofland said. The village will, though, require Aurora to pay for updating a traffic impact study done earlier for this area.

Guy Boulton of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.