Beebe seeks rezoning for final complex phase
Beebe Healthcare's long-range plan to develop its complex off Route 24 and Healthy Way between Lewes and Rehoboth Beach is about to enter its final phase.
Applicant G&M Route 24 LLC has filed for a rezoning from AR-1, agricultural-residential, to I-1, institutional district, for a 12.4-acre parcel adjacent to Beebe's Specialty Surgical Hospital.
During a Sept. 14 Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission public hearing, Mackenzie Peet, the applicant's attorney, said since the request was for a zoning change and not a site plan, all plans being discussed are conceptual.
Conceptual plans for the property include a pair of three-story, 60,000-square-foot professional office buildings, including a new home for the Lewes Surgical Center during the first phase.
“There is a need to provide services because of the growth and also provide new skilled jobs,” Peet said.
Mike Fiore, director of the Lewes Surgical Center, said the center has run out of room to accommodate its growing number of patients and physicians.
“There is a waiting list for five surgeons. We must expand the center,” he said, adding expanding hours is not beneficial to patients.
“We will work in concert with Beebe, and having the surgical center right there is a benefit,” he added.
Bruce Leshine, chief of legal services for Beebe Healthcare, said Beebe purchased the land for the entire complex in 1998 and 2000, which includes the Rehoboth Medical Arts Building, Tunnell Cancer Center, Bookhammer Outpatient Center and hospital.
“This is the last parcel of our third and final phase of developing the land,” he said.
Lewes Surgical Center would occupy the first floor of the first building to be built, with Beebe Healthcare occupying the second and third floors for medical offices.
Lewes Surgery Center is a free-standing surgery center that has served patients since 2006. It's currently located on Old Orchard Road outside Lewes.
The commission deferred a vote to a future meeting. Sussex County Council has scheduled a public hearing at 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 17.
