Pulmonary & Sleep Medicine specialties are expanding their office space. Sleep services will remain in Suite D-24 and Pulmonary will move to Suite D-21, 25 Newell Road in Bristol, beginning March 25.

New Ambulatory Care Center Open Soon | Bristol Health News

By The Bristol Press

February 14, 2018

The next steps for the Bristol Hospital Downtown Ambulatory Care Center is to close on the property with the city in the next few weeks, execute the lease agreement with the developer and then commence construction.

“There are very, very few items that we are working through with the city right now,” President & CEO Kurt Barwis said while providing a project update to the City Council on Tuesday. “We have essentially all of the agreements in place.”

Barwis hopes that the new ambulatory care center becomes the springboard for development downtown, and anticipates for construction to commence in late winter or early spring, Barwis explained.

The project is expected to cost between $26 and $30 million by the time it is completed, he noted.

“From beginning to end, the construction schedule is planned to be about 18 months,” Barwis said. “We would occupy the building, provided we get all the approvals to do so, sometime in June of 2019, and we are anxious to occupy that building.”

There will not be a groundbreaking ceremony when construction commences due to the cold weather, Barwis explained. Instead, it will hold a beam signing ceremony later this summer when there is a structure in Centre Square, he added.

“The face of that property is going to change because all of the steel structure will be up [in August]. We will save the last beam and it will be painted white, so that all of those involved can sign that beam,” he said. “Then we will have that beam lifted into place and secured, and that will mark the celebration of the project.”

Barwis recalled the long process for the project to come to this point.

“The first time I stood here in this spot was in 2016, and a lot has happened since then,” he said. “And it wouldn’t have happened without the support of the City Council, the mayor and many others, including the legal team here in the city.”

“I’ve been here 11 almost 11 and a half years, and true access to capital to do something with has been really lucid for us,” he continued. “We are really fortunate to have found a developer to actually finance the project and work through the project with us.”

“We wouldn’t have that without the tremendous support of this community, tremendous support of the leadership and hospital board, and really engaged people representing the city, engaging with the developer, and really bringing someone in to make this happen,” he added.

Lorenzo Burgio can be reached at 860-801-5088 or by email at lburgio@centralctcommunications.com