At a press briefing held at the center's Horton Hospital campusin Middletown recently, Wayne Becker, vice president of specialprojects for Orange Regional, discussed the project's status andshowcased the latest architectural design elements of the 374-bedfacility that will total 621,000 sf. Becker said the newseven-story Orange Regional Medical Center, to be built on a61-acre site off East Main Street in Middletown, will have hard andsoft construction costs that will account for $255 million of theoverall project price tag.

Orange Regional currently operates two hospitals within eightmiles of each other--the Arden Hill campus, which is a licensed174-bed facility in Goshen, and the 276-bed Horton campus. Thehospital will eventually consolidate hospital operations into thenew facility and is in the midst of trying to sell its existingArden Hill and Horton campuses to help defray development costs.The Horton campus is the largest hospital in Orange County, whileArden Hill is ranked third. Orange Regional also operates 12outpatient facilities and recently opened a new 80,000-sf additionto its Orange Regional Medical Pavilion on Crystal Run Road inMiddletown.

Becker said that the staff of Orange Regional has worked hardtrying to come up with alternative uses for the Arden Hill andHorton campuses. Currently, the team is in discussions with twoprospective buyers that are each interested in purchasing one ofthe available hospital properties. Becker hopes that letters ofintent will be signed on the deals by this October.