Plans for New Germantown Hospital Advance

Holy Cross Hospital’s plans to build a hospital in Germantown received unanimous approval from the Montgomery County Planning Board during its meeting Thursday.

The 93-bed hospital is proposed for the southern portion of Montgomery College’s Germantown campus and would be Germantown’s first new hospital in more than a decade.

The board approved the hospital’s forest conservation plan, site and preliminary plans, in addition to plans to extend Observation Drive — to become a four-lane public road, under the proposal — from Middlebrook Road to Germantown Road, according to board records.

The hospital would anchor Montgomery College's Science and Technology Park. Construction could begin in fall; the hospital would be completed in the first half of 2014, a hospital spokesperson told Patch in June.

In January, the Maryland Healthcare Commission voted unanimously (9-0) to approve Holy Cross’s proposal for a $202 million hospital in Germantown, over ShadyGrove Adventist’s $177 million 86-bed facility in Clarksburg. In June, The Maryland State Board of Public Works unanimously approved a $7.95 million, 90-year lease agreement with the hospital.

County Executive Isiah Leggett recently signed an executive order that designated the hospital as a “strategic economic development project,” a designation that directs county departments and agencies to prioritize the project and expedite its approval process.