Carle has announced plans to consolidate its Danville medical facilities into a new $50-million dollar campus between Logan and Gilbert Streets. It will be bounded on the north by Madison Street and by North Street on the south. Services currently provided by Carle on West Fairchild and North Vermilion Streets will be moved there.
[Miller addresses the crowd on hand for Wednesday’s announcement. Mayor Williams is seated on the left.]
Caleb Miller, Carle senior vice president of Primary Care and Specialty Services, was asked about the services that will be provided on the new campus…
{”The intent right now is to continue offering the services that we’ve had over a period of time. We’re always looking to expand the services that we offer the community. The intent is to be able to provide them good ambulatory care, whether that be from a primary care services standpoint, a specialty services standpoint, or a surgical services standpoint,” said Miller.}
Part of the plans call for closing a segment of Logan Avenue and tying the new medical complex to the nearby Ellsworth Park…
{”We want to provide an environment for our patients that is a good healing environment for them for when they come to receive their care. Part of that is how can we tie in the different aspects of Danville into the medical campus. A big part of that for this location is Ellsworth Park, so we’re working closely with the City of Danville on how do we tie this campus into that park,” said Miller.}
The City of Danville already has some improvements slated for the park with some grant monies acquired earlier.
[These are some of the homes located in the area where Carle plans to construct its new medical campus in Danville.]
Mayor Rickey Williams says the new Carle medical complex will change the view for people entering the community from the south or west…
{”You know right now, unfortunately, my neighborhood is struggling. You have a lot of dilapidated homes and businesses,” said Mayor Williams. ”There are some great places – like Leon’s, like the salon, like the doctor’s office — but there are a lot of places that have become very blighted. So now, instead of blight, they’re going to see this beautiful multi-acre medical campus, and I think that will just showcase how Danville is truly – we say we’re at the corner of progress and history, and I think that will show the progressive side of our city.”}
City leaders and Vermilion Advantage had kept the project a close secret for months under the code name ‘Project Clean Slate’. And Mayor Williams was excited they could finally reveal the project…
[The Vermilion County Museum – shown here – will not be affected by Carle’s new medical campus nearby.]
{”Between this, the casino and the Fischer Theater opens a month from today. That’s what I said, it’s a new day in Danville, and I’m just ecstatic to see the progress that we’re going to make over the next several years,” said the Mayor.}
Carle’s new development does not involve acquiring Big Lots, a salon or other businesses along North Gilbert Street at this time. And the Vermilion County Museum will not be affected by the development. It does, however, involve plans to close a segment of Logan Avenue in the area of the new development. It also involves plans to relocate the Carle Arrow Ambulance operation to a new building which would be built on the new medical campus announced today.
Carle must go through the Certificate of Need process with the State of Illinois before the plans can advance. But Miller says hopefully that can be obtained by Christmas so they can get started with site work. It is expected the new facility will take two years to complete.
