By Monique Roth

L’Observateur

DESTREHAN – St. Charles Parish Hospital recently held a groundbreaking ceremony at the future site of Plantation View Medical Offices on the east bank of the Mississippi River in Destrehan.

Centrally located next to the Hale Boggs Bridge, the new 62,000 square foot, $15.5 million facility will include about 10 offices, with the smallest office at approximately 1,000 square feet and the largest office space at approximately 6,000 square feet.

Featuring a French Quarter-style architectural design, the three-story facility will provide physician office space and an urgent care center with a separate entrance.

Plantation View will provide space for needed medical specialists including internal medicine, pediatrics, orthopedics, ophthalmology, gastroenterology, urology, neurology and obstetrics and gynecology services. Also included will be a timeshare suite for part-time specialists.

St. Charles Hospital Chief Executive Officer Federico Martinez Jr. said the project will “provide incredible hospital services to the citizens of St. Charles Parish.”

“The building will be architecturally pleasing, but more importantly, it will house the primary care and urgent care services our east bank residents defined as priority needs in the community,” said Martinez.

In the past, St. Charles Parish Hospital conducted a focus group study to research what the local community’s health care needs were. The survey revealed that parish residents desired an east bank presence and that on the east bank, the most needed health care service indicated was as an urgent care clinic.

About half of the offices in the building will be leased to private physicians’ practices and about half will be used by hospital-employed physicians.

The economic impact of the complex will create at least 43 jobs, have an annual impact of more than $3 million dollars from clinic staff to the local community and have an annual economic impact of over $5 million from physician salaries to the local community.

British Petroleum donated a 4.43-acre parcel to St. Charles Hospital for the development of Plantation View. BP’s master plan is to turn the land into a thriving new town center with outdoor shopping, a business development incubator, green space and a health care center, with St. Charles Hospital as the anchor of the development project.

Funded by First NBC Bank utilizing direct loans and federal and state new market tax credits, the medical complex is located at 13100 River Road in Destrehan and is less than 10 minutes away from St. Charles Parish Hospital.

St. Charles Parish President V.J. St. Pierre said the building marked a very historical moment for the parish, and Chairman of the St. Charles Parish Hospital Board of Commissioners John Landry said the services offered at the complex will be phenomenal for both east bank and west bank residents.

The Plantation View Medical Office complex is scheduled to open in May 2015.