Charlestown could be home to an 11-storey private hospital under plans being developed by a Hunter-based property fund manager to expand the region's capacity for hospital care services.
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GPV Property, a burgeoning developer of healthcare infrastructure in the region, has made a request to the NSW Department of Planning for environmental assessment requirements to progress its concept plan for a hospital and medical centre on the corner of the Pacific Highway and Frederick Street.
The state significant development project, worth $70 million, is still in its early stages of planning with an operator of the proposed private hospital yet to be officially locked in.
A scoping report prepared to accompany the request for the Secretary's Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs) shows GPV Property is considering a multi-purpose health services facility anchored by a 110-bed private hospital.
"The point of it is to increase the region's capacity for hospital-care services," GPV Property manager director Gavin Rose said.
"What's being investigated and what we're exploring, is surgical rehabilitation and mental health care, as options subject to a needs analysis. The mix of services is still being assessed."
The concept proposal involves an 11-storey building approximately 40-metres high for the private hospital, a ground-level medical centre and two floors of general consulting space.
It includes a basement car park for 173 vehicles and a six-storey car park to accommodate almost 200 vehicles.
The 8151 square-metre site is zoned part B3 Commercial Core and part B4 Mixed Use, which have maximum building heights of 36.5 and 23 metres respectively.
However, the scoping report notes a variation could be "adequately justified" as council's Charlestown Town Centre Area Plan identifies the site for a 10-storey tower.
The corner-block, which fronts the Pacific Highway and is surrounded by Frederick and Smith streets, was once part of Charlestown Public School before it was sold by the state government to Lake Macquarie City Council.
In the hope of seeing the site developed, council sold the property in 2017 to a private investor that GPV Property has secured an option with.
Under the proposal outlined in the scoping report, the private hospital would have two core components: a surgical facility, which would include an intensive care and high dependency unit; and a sub-acute hospital facility for step-down care into rehabilitation following surgery, combined with facilities for other longer stay hospital-based care, including mental health care, geriatric care and palliative care.
GPV Property managing director Gavin Rose said his organisation was still a few months away from submitting a detailed application to the Department of Planning for assessment.
"It will be the biggest healthcare development I think we've seen in the region [in some time]," he said.
"This particular hospital will be focusing on both surgical and rehabilitation.
"It's a concept plan and we've put it to the [state government] to see what the requirements would be ... but the intention will be to complete our feasibility, and subject to that, submit an application to the Department of Planning as a state significant development."
Mr Rose said the Charlestown private hospital project would be the largest GPV Property had taken on.
He said it would follow GPV Property's recent redevelopment of the Cooks Hill Commercial Centre on Darby Street, which is expected to open as the Cooks Hill Healthcare Hub in a few weeks.
"We've done massive changes to the facade and internals of the [Cooks Hill] building, and added a whole lot of car parking to make that a healthcare hub which will be the only type of its kind the inner-city area where you've got the largest GP clinic, radiology, pathology, specialists and allied health," he said.
Discussing GPV Property's previous healthcare development projects, Mr Rose said: "We've done another six medical centres in our region and some other stuff outside the region too."
News of GPV Property's plans come a few weeks after Hunter New England Health revealed its early master plan for the state's government planned $780 million redevelopment of the John Hunter Hospital precinct.
Hunter New England Health chief executive Michael DiRienzo said in recent weeks the redevelopment would be finished by 2026.
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