HUNTINGTON -- For the doctors with University Eye Surgeons, it will allow room to grow. For Dr. Scott Edmonds, who started his dental practice three years ago, it's an opportunity to invest in some property, rather than leasing it.
"The earlier you start, the better you are," he said. "It's an investment for the future."
Many of the doctors who will move into the East Hills Professional Center shared those thoughts, among other reasons.
The center was announced Wednesday at the East Hills shopping plaza, near the 29th Street Exit of Interstate 64. It's the former site of Ames, Office Depot and more recently, Grandview Weekend Outlet -- across U.S. 60 from HIMG.
A project of developer Bob Childers, the center will have condominium office suites available to be purchased by professionals in the area. Health-care professionals who already have purchased offices include local dentists Dr. Edmonds, Dr. David Eller and Dr. Reginald Opimo; University Eye Surgeons, including Dr. Michael A. Krasnow, Dr. Charles Francis and Dr. Belinda Russell; and Advantage Health Care for Women, including Dr. Larry Caserta and nurse practitioner Donna Kaplan.
According to the Huntington Area Development Council, Childers expects 80 percent of the development to be sold within the first year and a half of construction. In total, the project will represent $22 million in private investments and span more than 186,000 square feet of office space.
"It takes someone with entrepreneurial spirit to make a $22 million development work," said HADCO President Jerry McDonald. With all the suites already sold, it's already proving to be a success, he said.
Suites offered are 3,000 to 40,000 square feet.
The current facade of the buildings will be redesigned, and the parking lot will be leveled, said Childers, owner of Childers Properties. That portion of the project should get started in August and be finished by Jan. 1, 2008, he said. The doctors will have input on the interior design of their office suites, and the first group should be moving in about January, Childers said. He expects the project to be completed in its entirety by August 2010.
The center's facade was designed by Sherman Carter Barnhart of Lexington, Ky., and Edward Tucker Architects Inc. of Huntington will design the interior of the office space. Triad Engineering of St. Albans is preparing the site, Structure Resources Inc. of Huntington will handle construction, and the financing is being handled by Fifth Third Bank.
It is expected to be all-electric, have fiber optic service to each unit, card access and security cameras, 530 parking spaces and city sewer and water, though it is outside Huntington and Barboursville city limits.
It's a rapidly growing area, said Childers, citing a number of recent or current construction projects along U.S. 60 between the 3100 block there and Merritts Creek -- the Kroger expansion, Radiology Inc., Fifth Third and Huntington banks and River Place being just a handful of the examples he mentioned.
It is a great location, said Francis, an ophthalmologist with University Eye Surgeons. He likes the easy access from the interstate.
He also is looking forward to having more space -- 14 exam rooms instead of five and being able to add some new doctors.
"We'll have a laser suite and have procedures that will save costs for the patients," he said.
In terms of the current businesses at the site, some are going and some don't know what they're going to do when their leases are up in the next year or two.
Don Ashworth, owner of Grandview Weekend Outlet stores through Ohio and Kentucky, sold his Huntington location to Childers Properties for the project and closed earlier this month. Other businesses in the plaza include the Huntington School of Beauty Culture, Roger Call's Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. office, Huntington Federal Savings Bank, CVS and Nawlins Street, all of which are still open.
Huntington Federal is going to build a free-standing bank at the 12-acre site, Childers said. The other businesses said their future at that location is unclear.
For more information about East Hills Professional Center, visit www.childersproperties.com or call (304) 523-6515.
