HELLERTOWN, Pa. — The borough Planning Commission has approved a site plan for a new medical office at the former Rite Aid on Main Street.
Located at 110 Main St., between Main and Front streets, the one-story, 15,000-square-foot building on about 1.5 acres is planned to become the new home of St. Luke’s University Health Network’s Saucon Valley Family Practice.
The new vision for the property also calls for CareNow urgent-care amenities and an outpatient lab on site, bringing a total of seven practitioners and 14 staff members with 66 parking spaces on site.
“They are bursting at the seams basically; they need more space. ... We have not made any final decisions on the property on Front Street, but it is possible that we might sell it or lease it.”St. Luke's University Health Network Senior Director of Real Estate Jennifer Peters
Planners approved the proposal last week.
St. Luke’s is now under contract to buy the property, according to Jennifer Peters, the health network’s senior director of real estate.
She said care providers at the current family practice at 255 Front St. need more room. The new location will allow for additional staff, work area and parking.
“They are bursting at the seams basically; they need more space," Peters said. “So that’s been a primary driver for us when we went down the road with choosing this facility, is to relocate them from that one.
“We have not made any final decisions on the property on Front Street, but it is possible that we might sell it or lease it.”
The bankrupt Rite Aid drugstore chain now is closed nationwide after for more than 60 years of operation. The Hellertown Rite Aid closed in June.
No overnight stays
The new family practice would operate mostly during the daytime, with some extended hours for urgent care.
St. Luke’s plans to gut the interior and equip it for outpatient medical care.
Peters said the building will be left mostly as is visually, and new signs, requiring a separate permitting process, are planned to replace the Rite Aid sign.
Opening the new facility would require no waivers or variances.Hellertown Planning Commission
The building is in good condition structurally, she said, but requires some freshening up on stucco, for example, because of age.
The drive-thru and overhang will be taken down to make room for additional parking.
Access drives remain the same, with points at the property’s northwest corner and another two from Main Street.
“You’re not changing the circulation pattern that’s currently there,” borough engineer Bryan Smith told Peters.
“However, by adding some parking at that kind of back entrance area, maybe look at just re-striping a little differently, and maybe having a sign just to clarify this is one-way from Front Street around the building and not through that back area.”
The property also is in for some new trees and buffer landscaping to ease headlight pollution from the parking lot.
Some residents said St. Luke’s should consider taking out parking lot islands to provide more parking. Smith said the space is oddly shaped but meets parking requirements.
Opening the new facility would require no waivers or variances.
