Peconic Bay Medical plans Manorville campus

The Peconic Bay Medical Health System plans to open a satellite campus in Manorville as part of a larger expansion on the East End.

Executives at the system's Riverhead medical center and nursing home said it will rent three buildings in the proposed Manorville Plaza on Eastport Manor Road/County Route 111. Operations are expected to begin early next year, the executives said.

The new Campus for Advanced Ambulatory and Preventive Care would employ 100 people and specialize in urgent care, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology and general surgery.

The health system has a payroll of 800, with annual wages averaging $68,750 per person, records show.

"We anticipate building more and more of these ambulatory care campuses," said Andrew J. Mitchell, chief executive and president. "This is our vision of the future under health care reform: More services will move to outpatient centers."

Manorville was chosen for the first satellite campus, he said, because of a dearth of medical services in the immediate area. The health system is attempting to meet local needs, particularly those of seniors and young families.

"We might also open a home health care facility [as a base for aides] to serve the older population," he told a meeting of the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency last week.

David Rosenberg, agency vice chairman, said it would welcome further expansion by Peconic Bay Medical.

Most of the doctors on the 26,400-square-foot Manorville campus will be based there, not at the Riverhead hospital.

Lacking funds to construct the $5-million campus, the health system has teamed with a developer, The Park Ridge Organization.

Park Ridge owner Charles B. Mancini said he would rent the three buildings to the health system for 10 years, with options to continue the leases for up to another 10 years.

Last week he received about $1.3 million in tax breaks from the development agency, which he pledged to pass along in the form of lower rent. The largest savings is $1 million off property tax bills over 10 years.

The arrangement helps Peconic Bay Medical "to preserve capital for patient services," said Ronald McManus, its senior vice president.

The health system announced last night that it may occupy another building in the 17-acre plaza, which also will be home to a CVS drugstore. Officials also said the campus may provide diabetes care.

Sherry Patterson, chairwoman of the health system's board of directors, said, "Manorville and the surrounding communities have had limited access to advanced medical services due to the lack of medical offices in the area."