New health center planned

BARKHAMSTED — Charlotte Hungerford Hospital is planning to build a new regional medical center just a few hundred feet beyond the Winsted border in Barkhamsted.

The hospital currently operates an emergency medical clinic at the Winsted Health Center, 115 Spencer St., daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

However, the Torrington-based developer Borghesi Building & Engineering Company has submitted an application to the Barkhamsted Inland Wetlands Committee proposing to construct an 18,290-square-foot commercial health services building at 390 New Hartford Road, next-door to the Mallory Brook Plaza.

The proposal includes a large parking area, walk-in medical clinic, cardiac rehabilitation center and a helipad for emergency medical helicopters.

Allan Borghesi, the chairman of the developing group, said if the project is approved, it will be a significant upgrade over Charlotte Hungerford’s current facilities at the Winsted Health Center.

“It will be a nice, clean, updated and technologically advanced facility that will better serve the Winsted area,� Borghesi told The Journal Tuesday morning, adding that the new center would be more “user friendly� than the current Spencer Street building.

“It will be wonderful for the area,� he said.

The Barkhamsted Inland Wetlands Commission will hold a public hearing on the application for the new center Tuesday, Jan. 5, beginning at 7 p.m., at Barkhamsted Town Hall.

Mallory Brook runs through the southeastern portion of the parcel slated for development, and the lot also includes an area of wetlands. In addition, the town’s Water Pollution Control Authority is involved in reviewing the project, as sewer lines would have to be extended to and from the facility, if it is built.

The site, which is a large parcel of land owned by Lavieri Group LLC, is now mostly meadow and woods. The group’s agent is listed as Richard R. Laveiri of Elm Street in Winsted and its principal as Patricia Minton of Dew Street in Barkhamsted.

Borghesis said the project is still in the preliminary stages, with the developers currently focusing on the financial feasibility and “cost pricing� of the project.

Once that portion of the work is completed, Borghesi will then officially present the plan to the hospital’s board for approval.

If members give it the green light, he said construction on the new center will move forward. The next step in the process is the submission of an application to Barkhamsted’s Planning and Zoning Committee.

In addition to the emergency center, Charlotte Hungerford runs cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation programs, as well as blood drawing, laboratory, x-ray and digital mammography services at the Spencer Street facility. The hospital’s four-bed Hungerford Regional Sleep Laboratory is located there, too.

The facility also houses the offices of private doctors and therapists, a Veterans Affairs clinic and St. Francis Center for Occupational Health. The hospital has been the center’s largest tenant since it first moved into the space 10 years ago.

In September, Charlotte Hungerford announced it was looking into the possibility of moving out of the Spencer Street facility.

At that time, hospital spokesperson Timothy LeBouthillier told The Journal that Charlotte Hungerford’s board of directors had not yet made any decisions regarding the future of its operations at the Spencer Street location, but was exploring options to improve and expand the scope and level of services it provides the area.

On a separate track, the Winsted Health Center is in the middle of an extensive renovation project after receiving a $130,00 federal grant for the needed repairs. The project involves a new roof, automatic doors and entrance ramps, as well as new stone work for the facility’s 1902 building.

In addition, the center’s 1957 building will receive new thermostats. During the winter months, center staff and volunteers often have had to open the building’s windows to help regulate the temperature inside.

Also, the center’s parking lot areas will be completely resurfaced in the spring.

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