The University of Virginia projects that UVA Health expects to conduct 1.2 million outpatient procedures a year by 2035, up from around 900,000 annually as of now.
To accommodate demand, UVA President Scott Beardsley on October 29 announced the purchase of a large site and 365,000 square foot building on Pantops in Albemarle County.
“I’m pleased to announce today that UVA Health has completed the acquisition of a new facility on 55 acres of land in Albemarle County that will expand access to outpatient services,” Beardsley said at a special meeting of the Board of Visitors.
“That facility is the site previously leased by State Farm in the Pantops area of Albemarle County,” Beardsley continued.
State Farm employed hundreds at their operations center for many years until transitioning employees to remote work. They never came back during the pandemic, but Albemarle County has been working with businesses like Bonumose to locate lab space in the area.
According to an information release, UVA will pay $37.7 million for the land which is owned by an entity known as JDM II SF NATIONAL LLC. The gross purchase price had been $48.3 million but was reduced due to an early termination of leases on the property.
The location was a big selling point.
“It’s conveniently located between US 250 and Interstate 64, and it has over 1,200 parking spaces, and that will make it easier for patients and clinicians to come in and go out,” Beardsley said.
Those parking spaces will allow other spaces managed by UVA Parking and Transportation to be used for other purposes.
The goal is to move into the space by 2028.
Beardsley said this will be a boost to economic development in Albemarle County because the building has been unoccupied.
Dr. Mitch Rosner, CEO, UVA Health, & Executive Vice President, said the purchase is part of an overall campaign to expand access which includes the fitting out of the top three floors of the UVA Hospital’s South Tower as well as the conversion of the Transitional Care Hospital on Ivy Road into a space dedicated for in-patient psychiatric therapy.
“By relocating appropriate outpatient services to this location, we can improve access to care, we can create a more convenient experience for patients, and importantly, reduce the congestion on the main medical campus,” Rosner said. “Just as importantly, moving out these outpatient services will free up valuable space at University Hospital that can be repurposed to support additional inpatient capacity and support the complex care that only an academic medical center like UVA Health can provide.”
Rosner said a master plan for the space will be developed over the next six months. One of the people he thanked Luis Carrazana, an Associate Architect of the University of Virginia who is also chair of the Albemarle Planning Commission.
The Pantops area is one of three areas under review by Albemarle’s Department of Community Development for an “activity center plan” and the Planning Commission discussed the matter in the spring.
Beardsley also took the opportunity to update the Board of Visitors on the planning process for UVA’s next strategic plan.
“Grounds for Conversation, as it’s called, has completed 15 presidential listening sessions at all the schools with more than 1,100 people, faculty and staff attending,” Beardsley said. “We’ve had 13,600 stakeholders that responded to the community survey, by far a new record.”
Beardsley said the Board of Visitors will see the building blocks of the plan at its meeting in December.
Questions are out to Albemarle County. They include whether UVA Health has to go through any land use permits to use the site and how much real property tax revenue Albemarle County will now forgo.
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