A ground breaking for the new Centre Care nursing home is slated for this fall, with a goal of opening the $39 million facility in Benner Township in November 2020.
The new nursing home will be about 137,000 square feet.
“Our architect keeps telling us this is a large building. It takes up about 15 acres of the plot of land,” said Andrew Naugle, administrator of Centre Crest, the current home in Bellefonte.
He said the new facility will have features including a large multipurpose room, a chapel big enough for about 80 people and more private rooms than the current one.
The new building will also meet upcoming fire safety codes. It will continue to serve Medicaid recipients.
“We’re really trying to build it as a more modern nursing facility,” Naugle said.
Residential suites, including rooms and dining areas will be located in wings off the core building area.
“We’re trying to make it more homelike, more of a community base,” he said.
The new facility will replace the existing Centre Crest in Bellefonte. The new one is going on property near the Nittany Mall, a site that will allow for future expansion.
Naugle said that down the road they hope to expand to include a continuing care retirement home. Those allow retirees to live independently at first, moving to assisted living if needed.
For now, the focus is on building the new 240-bed facility. Completion is scheduled for November 2020.
