The hospital’s spokespeople declined to comment further.
Speculation is that the Mt. Auburn-based nonprofit health network is behind a nearly $17 million land deal in Liberty Twp. east of the Liberty Way interchange with Interstate 75. Three parcels of land at that location sold in October, according to records from the Butler County Auditor's Office. Contact information for the property buyer, Cox Road Investments LLC, was not immediately available.
No plans for development at the site have been submitted to the township since the transactions were finalized on Oct. 3 and Oct. 7, according to Caroline McKinney, the township’s economic development director.
Christine Matacic, Liberty Twp. trustee president, said she has not been involved in any discussions with the Cincinnati-area hospital. But, if Christ Hospital were to add services in West Chester or Liberty townships, she said it would be a positive impact on the whole area in part because it would bring high paying jobs.
“We do have a part of Christ Hospital’s presence in our community as it is, so if it were to expand to something more, I think it would be fantastic for the area,” Matacic said.
“We’ve got the rooftops out here to support a lot of business and health care is one (residents and employers) are concerned about to make sure that they have a lot of access,” she said.
Construction of a new medical facility with Interstate 75 visibility would significantly raise Christ Hospital’s profile in the northern suburbs, where it would compete with other nonprofit hospital networks from both Cincinnati and Dayton including Cincinnati Children’s Liberty Campus and West Chester Hospital, which is part of the UC Health system.
Currently, health systems have the following building projects in various stages in Butler and Warren counties:
• Already Liberty Twp.'s largest employer, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has a pair of construction projects underway at its Liberty Campus, which can be seen from I-75. The total investment to add an inpatient floor and built a proton therapy center for cancer treatment is approximately $160 million;
• Premier Health, which operates Middletown hospital Atrium Medical Center, first announced in May plans to open an $11.5 million medical facility in Mason including a 24-hour emergency center, physician offices and medical spa;
• Meanwhile, Kettering Health Network is continuing construction on a freestanding emergency department in Franklin. It's the same hospital group that owns Fort Hamilton Hospital;
• Additionally, West Chester Hospital is raising funds to add maternity services next year; and
• Most recently, TriHealth and Oxford hospital McCullough-Hyde Memorial announced plans in October to affiliate, a deal in which TriHealth will take majority ownership in the independently-owned Butler County hospital. TriHealth first started expanding into Butler County in 2012 with the purchase of the former Butler County Medical Center in Hamilton. A 51,000-square-foot expansion is underway on the Bethesda Butler campus to expand from 10 patient beds to 48 beds by the end of 2015.
Christ Hospital Health Network opened in 2013 new physician offices at 7335 Yankee Road in Liberty Twp., replacing a Middletown location.
The Christ Hospital Physicians — Ohio Heart & Vascular also operates a Hamilton office at 1380 N.W. Washington Blvd.
Additionally in 2011, Christ Hospital acquired Wetherington Family Medicine, a doctor’s office in West Chester Twp.
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