Rendering of residential townhomes (foreground) and retail/residential with covered parking

Coming soon to the fast-growing South side of Lake Charles is a $200 million development merging medical, shopping, offices, restaurants and residential.

This unique project, Imperial Pointe, will provide the city with a surgical specialty hospital, rehab hospital, health and wellness center, multi-level parking garage, medical office building, retail and residential area, restaurants, professional office complex, assisted and independent living, and recreational areas – all in one location.

A project of Derek Development Corporation, Barras Architects, and civil engineer Barry J. Bleichner, PE, PLS, LLC, all of Lafayette, Imperial Pointe’s planning began just this past December. Richard Baggett, one of the owners of the 76-acre site on Nelson Road at Imperial Boulevard, approached Roland L. “Rocky” Robin,  Derek Development’s managing partner, about building  a hospital. Back in 1991, Robin had successfully developed the Power Center, a retail mecca sprawling over 1 million square feet off  Highway 14 in Lake Charles. A registered pharmacist, Robin had also developed hospitals in Opelousas and Hammond, with Hospital Investment Group LLC of Spring, Texas.

After conducting demographic studies, Derek Development, along with Barras Architects and engineer Bleichner, created a plan for a surgical hospital along with other specialty use buildings over a 924,250 square-foot area. “Once we got the surgical hospital going, everybody just kind of wanted on the bandwagon,” Robin explained. “But, it came with a lot of drive from us.” The first phase consists of a 136,550 square-foot hospital complex, five-story 72,500 square-foot medical office building and five-story 268,875 square-foot parking garage. The uniquely-designed parking garage, with a 620-vehicle capacity will be concealed behind a brick façade, blending seamlessly with the town center format.

At the core of the project is the Imperial Calcasieu Hospital, a three-story, 75,000 square-foot surgical specialty center operated by Hospital Investment Group. Initially, the hospital will cost in excess of $30 million, with $12 million in equipment. Already signed on is the neighboring Center for Orthopaedics, with more specialists to come.

ICH will house six operating rooms, five ICU beds, 20 surgical beds, full imagining and total joint department, along with lab, pharmacy and physical therapy. HIG launched a similar project, Southern Surgical Hospital, in Slidell. On the ground floor will be administration, imaging, cafeteria, pre-op, recovery, ORs, ICU beds, pharmacy and lab. Patient rooms and the total joint department will be on the second floor. Topping it all is shelled-in space which will accommodate an additional 20 beds. “We interviewed a number of physicians in the Lake Charles community, and felt like a facility that mirrors this data would be a good place to start,” explained Irv Gregory, managing partner of Hospital Investment Group. “We are designing the hospital to accommodate additional beds, hospital rooms, procedure rooms and services as we move along. Ultimately, the hospital will have Joint Commission Accreditation and we will aspire to become a Center of Excellence for surgery.”

Next door to ICH is a freestanding rehabilitation hospital, also operated by HIG. This will be a three-story, 60,000 square-foot freestanding facility with a projected cost of $20 to $25 million. Initially, the state-of-the-art rehab facility will have 40 to 60 inpatient beds.

Also in the works is a health and wellness center. The brainchild of orthopedic surgeon Dr. John Noble, Jr. of the Center for Orthopaedics, the facility will be headed by a fitness expert and offer the latest workout equipment, group exercise classes and a swimming pool for aquatic aerobics. The wellness component will feature medically-monitored smoking cessation and weight loss, as well as spa and beauty services. “We believe that the policy makers in Washington are going to really start stressing the need for prevention, as opposed to treatment after the fact,” Noble said. “So, I think that what we’ll see in the future will be tax credits and tax deductions for people who are actually taking care of their health in a proactive way. And, I think it’s going to force businesses and patients to start basically acting more responsibly in terms of their health. So, I think that there will be a trend away from treating sick patients and a trend toward basically preventing illness.”

Behind the hospital is the medical office building, a projected 75,000 square-foot, three story complex. Physicians will be able to reserve spaces for patients and employees in the adjacent parking garage. The remainder of the garage will be for paid public parking. Nearby in a standalone building near the existing medical offices will be separate vein and wound care centers.

Next on the agenda is the medical office park. S.L. Shaw, builder of the Provenance and Cordoba office parks on Ambassador Caffery Parkway in Lafayette, is constructing a similar complex next to the existing Center for Orthopaedics building. This two-phase project a will consist of 12 to 15 units of multi-use office space offered for sale or lease. “We can give three options – you can buy a building, you can lease it, or have a ground lease or build-to-suit,” Robin explained.

Following the medical component is the retail/residential area. Current plans are to front this area with a water feature surrounding a gazebo area. The multi-use complex will be similar to Lafayette’s planned community, River Ranch, with retail on the bottom and residential units on the top two floors. On the drawing board are a pond-side community center flanked by two retail/dining areas. Local favorite Street Breads sandwich/salad/pizza shop and a 10,000 square-foot Japanese hibachi and sushi bar have already committed.

Behind the community center is the mixed-use residential/retail area and townhouses. Residences, offered for sale and lease, have covered surface parking in the rear. Recreation areas with green spaces and water features will round out the development.

Eventually, developers will add assisted living and independent living areas. Allotted is 55,000 square feet for 100 assisted living units, and 20,000 square feet for an independent living area. Residents will able to easily access medical services, as well as shopping, restaurants, retail and other services, on foot or by golf cart. “In the end, we are trying to have every type of medical assistance on the acreage that we have, so we are trying to offer as many of the facilities that we can,” Robin said. “These people need attention from the physicians. So, that’s why it’s a perfect fit on our campus.”

Imperial Pointe sailed through the Lake Charles Planning and Zoning Commission’s approval process. The next step is to add infrastructure – widening two-lane roads to four, building retention areas. Ground breaking is anticipated by the end of 2011.

Once underway, the project will bring much-needed services to the Lake Charles area. “Our goal is to create a village of healthy living,” Noble said.

For more information, contact Ryan Robin, Derek Development’s vice president of development, at (337) 993-2221.

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