COLUMBIA, S.C. — A massive, multi-fold geriatric health care facility planned for Bluffton is still moving forward but needs more time to be built.
When completed, Pace Healthcare Commons is expected to create 325 full-time jobs with an average salary of $48,000, according to documents project leaders submitted to S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
On Friday, agency spokesman Jim Beasley confirmed that Pace’s request for an additional extension on the project’s four permits, known as certificates of need, remains pending. Beasley said a certificate of need is only good for 12 months.
Like most states, South Carolina requires medical facilities to obtain a certificate of need before moving ahead with new construction, expansions or expensive equipment. The purpose is to control costs, prevent duplicative medical offerings and ensure that rural communities have accessible care.
But raising capital has been difficult for the Pace project, which comes with an estimated $55 million real estate cost and $25 million in necessary operating capital.
An earlier attempt to raise capital centered around the EB-5 immigrant investor program, which allows foreign
entrepreneurs to obtain a green card in exchange for chipping in $500,000 to $1,000,000 to support an American enterprise.
Pace Healthcare Commons executive Brian Cain told the state health board in January 2013 that a possible partnership with Beaufort Memorial Hospital subsidiary Broad River Healthcare, Inc., could allow them to jointly manage and develop the project and build a stronger base on which to raise capital.
At that time, Cain and his partner, Elizabeth Lamkin, succeeded in winning the state health board’s blessing for nine-month extensions on two of the project’s four certificates of need.
The complex is slated for a 16-acre parcel with south frontage on Bluffton Parkway, half a mile from the west termination at S.C. 170.
Cain addressed a reporter’s questions about the future of the project Friday through an emailed response.
“We expect that we will not need another extension, as we plan to start active development, design and initial site construction within the nine-month extension timeframe,” he wrote. Five others were copied on the email, including Beaufort Memorial Hospital President and CEO Richard Toomey.
Cain said the scope of the project had not changed, and that they still plan to develop all four of the certificate of need-based, post-acute care facilities. Initial documents that Pace filed outlined a plan to build a non-Medicaid nursing facility with an inpatient rehabilitation hospital, a geriatric psychiatric hospital, and other features.
Asked whether a partnership with the Beaufort Memorial Hospital subsidiary was still on the table, Cain replied: “We are in discussions with a local hospital to be a partner in the project.”
In February of 2011, Bluffton Today reported on Lamkin’s presentation of Pace Healthcare Commons to Bluffton town officials. At that time, it was described as “a for-profit project, four years in the works,” costing about $78 million.