Mercy Health Pauses Champion Hospital Project
WARREN, Ohio – Mercy Health – Youngstown has put on hold its plans to develop a new 241-bed hospital and medical office complex near the Kent State University Trumbull Campus in Champion township.
In May, Mercy officials confirmed plans for the medical campus on a 63-acre site that would replace the existing St. Joseph Warren Hospital, 667 Eastland Ave., S.E. The KSU Board of Trustees approved selling the land to Mercy in 2020.
“However, due to the current national economic volatility, inflationary pressure and financial challenges health care systems nationwide are experiencing, we’ve made the difficult decision to temporarily pause the project at this time,” Mercy spokeswoman Kara Franz said in an emailed statement.
“We look forward to resuming planning for this project at a future date,” Franz said. “We will also continue to operate and provide compassionate, high-quality care for the Mahoning Valley at our current St. Joseph Warren Hospital.”
The Tribune Chronicle in Warren first reported Friday that the project was on hold.
The proposed Champion complex is the second project in the Mahoning Valley that Mercy has paused or canceled this year. In February, the health care provider said it would not move forward with a proposed medical campus that would have been built at the Cafaro Co.’s proposed Enterprise Park development.
IMercy had anticipated breaking ground on the Champion Township site in early 2023, with an expected opening date later in the year. The new St. Joseph Trumbull would have represented the first new hospital construction in the Mahoning Valley since Mercy Health built St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital in 2007
In announcing the project, Mercy said the new hospital would have provided full inpatient and outpatient services and offer opportunity for future campus expansion. Mercy said it would maintain operations at the current St. Joseph Hospital campus in Warren, where it would offer outpatient services in the medical office building and redevelop the rest of the site into green space for the benefit of the community.
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