A new parking lot for the emergency room is one of the projects under way at Mary Washington Hospital

Date published: 3/14/2008

BY JIM HALL

More parking for the emergency room, new medical office buildings and new retail outlets are included in the development now taking place at Mary Washington Hospital.

The Fredericksburg hospital campus is again dotted with earth movers and construction crews. This time the activity is concentrated on the southern part of the property, near the Cowan Boulevard entrance.

The two buildings under construction at the entrance are expected to be completed early next year. One, called the Cowan Professional Plaza, will contain medical offices and will be the new home of the Imaging Center for Women.

The imaging center is now located on the first and third floors of the nearby Tompkins Martin office building, adjacent to the hospital.

"We're outgrowing that space, and it's also very inefficient," said Marie Frederick, vice president for properties and ambulatory services for MediCorp Health System, parent company of the hospital.

The other new building at the Cowan Boulevard entrance, called the Cowan Centre, is on a 4.2-acre parcel and will be a mix of retail uses and medical offices, said Jim Ostrander, MediCorp's leasing director.

A bank and a Vinny's restaurant have agreed to open outlets there, Ostrander said. The retail outlets will be the first ones to be located on Cowan Boulevard on the east side of Interstate 95.

A third medical office building is nearing completion a short distance away on Hospital Drive.

The 3-story Bunker Hill Medical Office Condominiums will be ready for occupancy this summer, Ostrander said.

MediCorp is an equal partner with a group of private investors in all three buildings. It holds a 20 percent interest in the Bunker Hill project and a 12 percent interest in the Cowan Boulevard buildings, Frederick said.

The newest parking lot is about 1 acre and is under construction on Hospital Drive across from the emergency room.

"Parking has always been at a premium on our campus," Ostrander said.

The southern part of the hospital property is already home to four new physician offices. Two obstetric practices, a gastroenterology practice and a urology practice have recently opened offices there.

MediCorp has another 25 acres on the southern portion of the hospital campus that are suitable for development, Frederick said. The company has no immediate plans for the use of that land, she said.

Jim Hall: 540/374-5433
Email: jhall@freelancestar.com

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Date published: 3/14/2008