Artist’s rendering of Hamilton Health Center’s future campus, with the planned expansion at the left side of the image.
Hamilton Health Center is a step closer to breaking ground on its long-anticipated expansion, as it has received a state grant to remediate the once-industrial construction site.
Gov. Tom Wolf today announced that Harrisburg-based Hamilton Health is the recipient of a $911,113 grant from the state’s Industrial Sites Reuse Program. The grant, along with 25 percent in matching funds, will provide soil remediation for the 2.3-acre site next to the center’s S. 17th Street facility on Allison Hill.
“We’re very excited about this grant,” said CEO Jeanine Peterson. “We couldn’t go any farther until we received funding to get this done.”
The site long housed an automotive operation, which leeched lead into the ground. The remediation project will remove soil from the site and replace it with clean soil, in addition to other protective measures, Peterson said.
She said that this portion of the project now can proceed and that Hamilton Health hopes to break ground on the new, two-story, 30,000-square-foot building and parking lot this fall. She expects construction to take 10 months to one year.
“This new funding is great news for the city of Harrisburg because it will transform a vacant part of the property into a new expansion for Hamilton Health Center, which means even better health and social services for Harrisburg residents,” said Wolf, in a statement. “Investments like these provide a significant boost to the area.”
Last September, Harrisburg City Council gave Hamilton Health approval for the project. At the time, it was anticipated that Capital Area Head Start would rent a substantial portion of the space for its expansion.
However, the project delay caused Capital Area Head Start, which first approached Hamilton Health about a partnership in 2015, to seek other space. So, Peterson said, Hamilton will occupy the building itself, using it for medical and social services.
“The demand for our services has escalated over the last two years,” she said.
In the process, Hamilton will continue to remake what once was a heavily industrial—then largely abandoned—part of Harrisburg.
“We take blight away and help bring the community back to what it should be,” Peterson said.
To learn more about Hamilton Health Center, visit their website.
