The nation’s largest owner and operator of rehabilitation hospitals is looking to bring an 80-bed facility to Bangor.
The Bangor Planning Board will consider on Tuesday whether to approve a land development permit for Encompass Health to build an inpatient rehabilitation hospital at 1017 Union St.
The empty 17.5-acre site is next to the Airport Mall and previously held a golf driving range, according to the application. The driveway to access the hospital would connect to Union Street between the Concord Coach bus terminal and a Midas auto repair shop.
The rehabilitation hospital would offer 24-hour care to patients recovering from a major injury or illness, such as amputations, brain injuries or strokes.
If approved, it would be another addition to Encompass Health’s rehabilitation hospital portfolio, which now holds more than 160 facilities in 37 states and Puerto Rico, according to the company. The company also partners with MaineHealth to run the New England Rehabilitation Hospital in Portland.
The new hospital would also fill a gap in the region’s rehabilitation services in the years after Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center closed its Bangor acute inpatient rehabilitation program in 2022. The closure was one of many resources Northern Light has closed or consolidated in recent years due to a lack of staff or funding.
The single-story, roughly 79,000-square-foot building would be developed in two phases, the first of which would launch later this year and finish in 2027, the project application states.
The first phase would build the driveway to the hospital, the majority of the parking area, and a 58,000-square-foot portion of the hospital that would hold 50 beds as well as administrative, kitchen and social areas.
Phase two of the project would add an additional 21,000 square feet of the building, capable of holding another 30 beds, as well as extra parking spaces, the application reads. The second portion of construction would begin in 2028.
Encompass Health Corp. previously outlined its intent to build the facility in a Nov. 6, 2023, letter to Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services. At the time, the cost of the project was estimated at $61.4 million.
In the application, the company estimates the total cost of construction would be approximately $42.6 million.
Encompass Health declined to comment on the proposed hospital.
While the Planning Board previously approved a zoning change for the property to allow a medical facility to be built on the property, this will be the first time city officials see specific details on the proposed hospital’s design, said Reese Perkins, chairperson of the Bangor Planning Board.
Perkins said he’s in favor of additional medical resources coming to the city, especially at a time when increasingly more Northern Light Health facilities are closing or scaling down services.
Additionally, much of northern Maine relies on medical centers within the Bangor-area, and the city’s aging population will likely need medical services even more in the coming years, Perkins said.
However, Perkins said he’s concerned about the financial health of the region’s existing medical facilities and fears a new resource would face the same fate.
“I feel that our medical system is broken in regards to how it’s paid for and operates,” Perkins said. “If we bring in another hospital or service center, is it going to maintain itself financially in the long run?”
Regardless of his support for additional medical services, Perkins clarified that the Planning Board does not make decisions based on their personal opinions of a proposed project.
“In the end, we base our decision legally upon the city codes and ordinances, like whether it has enough handicap parking and meets the city’s zoning requirements,” Perkins said.
Patricia Patterson King, spokesperson for Northern Light Health, said the health care system is in favor of services that expand access to local health care resources.
“Additional in-patient rehabilitation options are vital to ensuring that acute care beds are available for inpatient services,” Patterson King said.