by Brianna Crandall — September 3, 2014—NexCore Group, a national healthcare real estate developer, was selected by Holy Cross Health in a national competition to develop, own, lease and manage a four-story, 79,491square-foot medical office building (MOB) on a new Holy Cross Health hospital campus.
The campus will be the first new hospital in Montgomery County in 35 years, and it is situated in the fastest growing and aging region in the county. The architect for the project is Hord Coplan Macht, Baltimore, and the construction manager is Whiting-Turner, also of Baltimore.
“The medical office building on the Holy Cross Germantown Hospital campus is one of three outpatient care centers that NexCore is currently developing for CHE Trinity Health in different parts of the country,” says Jarrod Daddis, Executive Managing Director of Development at NexCore Group. “The Germantown medical office building is a unique facility because of its direct connection to the first new hospital in Montgomery County in 35 years, its location within a life sciences park, and its incorporation of LEED Silver building standards.”
The Holy Cross Germantown Hospital campus is located in unincorporated Germantown, Maryland, the third most populous area in Maryland after Baltimore and Columbia. It is also uniquely situated within the Hercules Pinkney Life Sciences Park on the Montgomery College campus. Patients, physicians, and staff of the new hospital campus will have access to the Metrobus and Metrorail lines that run to the college.
Building features and sustainability
The MOB will be home to a full complement of physician services, both primary care and specialty, and will house diagnostic and retail services. It will be connected to the new 93-bed hospital and a 696-space parking garage on the ground floor by a climate-controlled connector to create ease of access for patients, providers and staff. The connector will pass through a healing garden that will be located between the MOB and connector.
The MOB, which is being developed to LEED Silver standards, will include features such as high-efficiency air handling units (AHUs), a lighting control system, and a green roof. NexCore Group explains that green roofs provide several benefits such as filtering pollutants out of the air and rainwater, insulating the building from outside noise, and creating natural habitats.
Innovative educational partnership
As the anchor tenant of the Hercules Pinkney Life Sciences Park at Montgomery College, Holy Cross Germantown Hospital will reportedly be the first hospital in the nation on a community college campus with an educational partnership. Through an innovative partnership based on a shared commitment to education and the well-being of the community, Holy Cross and Montgomery College have significantly increased nursing student enrollment to help address a shortage of nurses. Holy Cross Germantown Hospital will provide funding, clinical rotations for nursing and allied health students, instructional space, and faculty for the college’s healthcare programs.
A video of this project, including the location and a three-dimensional (3D) animation, is available online.
