Digging up more local health care

SILVERTHORNE - The only town in Summit County without a medical facility made a significant step toward increased medical care Wednesday as the shovels hit the dirt on the Blue River Professional Building in Silverthorne.

The 11,000-square-foot building will be housed on a 1.29-acre lot on Tanglewood Lane, situated between the Village Inn and The Outlets at Silverthorne.

Local doctor Sue Dillon has signed a lease to open the Ptarmigan Medical Center/Urgent Care Center, which will fill about one-third of the development.

Silverthorne Mayor Lou DelPiccolo believes the center is "long overdue," especially in a town with the county's largest permanent population.

"This is the sort of activity, the sort of service we look to get more of as the town and county progress and as more and more people come," DelPiccolo said at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Deals to fill the remaining square footage are forging ahead, said Ken Deshaies of SnowHome Properties, the local real estate company that helped with the purchase of the land.

"We'll be full before we start the foundation probably," Deshaies said. "A title company is interested. That will take up a significant part of the square footage."

Three or four other people are looking at moving into the building as well, he said.

The building is being developed by Indiana-based Wise Inc., which has developed more than 80 health care facilities across the country and is negotiating to purchase the Summit Vista Professional Building in Frisco.

The closing date for that deal is set for May 22.

And Steve Lowry, developer with Wise, said the company's Summit County involvement won't end there.

"We'd like to be doing multiple projects over the next few years in Summit County" Lowry said, adding that future ventures won't necessarily be limited to the medical field. "As this gets going, we'll start looking at other opportunities."

Despite the groundbreaking, construction will not begin for a couple weeks to allow time to work out some details before a building permit can be issued.

Developers hope to have the building open by early December at the latest.



Nicole Formosa can be reached at (970) 668-3998, ext.229, or at nformosa@summitdaily.com