Saratoga Hospital officials hope to break the first ground later this summer on what will be a medical park at the scenic former horse farm property next to Northway Exit 12.
The town Planning Board this week approved the initial water and sewer connection work, along with construction of a new road into the former Saratoga Standardbred horse farm.
“We would like to break ground around Aug. 1, pending approval from some state agencies. Certainly, it will be by Labor Day,” said Matthew Jones of Saratoga Springs, the hospital’s attorney.
Installation of utilities is a precursor to erecting the first new building on the site, an urgent care treatment facility. Jones said the hospital would like to break ground for the building this fall, though he acknowledged such a schedule would be “aggressive.”
The hospital bought the 140-acre site in 2007, with plans to build an entire medical complex — to be called Saratoga Medical Park at Malta — over the next 25 years, with a potential investment of $350 million.
Today, many of the fences from the former horse farm still stand, as do some barns, but the fields once grazed by horses are now overgrown. The hospital’s plans, given zoning approval by the Town Board in 2009, could eventually include a new full-service hospital.
The town’s planning approval is conditional on the project receiving a wetlands disturbance permit from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, and other regulatory approvals from the state departments of transportation and health.
“We’re really happy with the way the Planning Board has worked with us,” Jones said. “They’re going to be seeing a number of site plans from us over the years, so we’re really pleased to have this first one for the site utilities.”
The 60,000-square-foot building, to be operated in partnership by Saratoga Hospital and Albany Medical Center, would offer urgent, primary and outpatient care 24 hours a day.
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