Nearly three years ago, on July 18, 2022, Mon Health System announced it had filed a formal application for a Certificate of Need to build and operate a new state-of-the-art small-format hospital in Bridgeport to serve the greater Harrison County community.

On Monday, a step was taken that appeared to show the project is going to happen. A building permit was filed for the project with the City of Bridgeport for the $23.6 million Mon Health Harrison Neighborhood Hospital project. Today, Tuesday, April 1, Mon Health CEO and President David Goldberg confirmed that it is definitely going to happen.

“Absolutely, this is moving ahead,” said Goldberg. “We’re extremely excited about this.”

Bridgeport Director of Public Information Andrea Kerr initially confirmed the permit filing of the facility that will be located at Charles Pointe Crossing. It will be located on a parcel past Menards, which is the anchor of the 67 acres created by the millions in earth work done to level the area for the new part of the Charles Pointe development.

“This is a project that the city has been working on with Genesis Partners (the developers of Charles Pointe) and Mon Health for quite some time,” said Kerr. “To see this very much needed facility submit a building permit application is something we have been looking forward to.”

The holdup with the project was the result of issues involving the bondholders of the property. Those issues have been solved or at a point where a path forward has been cleared.

“A lot of compliments to Genesis Partners, the bondholders, and the (Harrison) County (Commission), and all the parties involved with the TIF district in Harrison County, the City of Bridgeport and I could go on and on,” said Goldberg. “They have been collaborating, welcoming, and supportive.”

Kerr said the city was thrilled to see the permit pulled.

“The addition of Mon Health with the name recognition should be a tremendous asset to Charles Pointe when approaching other businesses to consider Bridgeport as a location,” said Kerr. “This was good to see.”

The building, which was initially 20,000 square feet, is actually going to be 40,000 square feet over two stories. The second story will be a “vanilla shell,” Goldberg said. It will essentially be complete but will not have any services or offices available when the building first opens.

“The second floor allows us to expand clinically or with administrative offices, or both, without interrupting services and our patients,” said Goldberg of the addition that was also approved through a certificate of need. “Everything will be roughed in on that floor for future expansion with minimal disruptions.”

The first floor will feature 24/7 emergency care, board-certified physicians, comprehensive inpatient care, pharmacy services, and inpatient and outpatient radiology services such as CT scans, ultrasounds, MRI, echoes, x-rays, and more.

There will also be 10 private rooms and eight emergency bays or rooms. The building will have a hospital on one side and an emergency department on the other. There will be three entrances: a lobby entrance for the hospital, a lobby entrance for the emergency room, and an EMS entrance.

Goldberg anticipates the buildout to be a little bit longer than a year. The architectural work and engineering are essentially done, the equipment has been ordered, and Goldberg added that there are soft holds on most of the steel needed for the hospital.

“You will see equipment there in the very, very, very near future,” he said.