Buy shoes, hit the eatery, get a checkup

Study recommends changing four struggling shopping centers into medical malls

When the Prince George’s County hospital system began to follow suit with financial problems of its own, some officials tossed around the idea of combining the two ailing businesses into one ‘‘medical mall,” a one-stop location for residents’ health care, dining and shopping needs.

At Knotts’ request, the County Council initiated in 2006 a request for proposal for a study into having county malls use vacant space for health services. The study examined 104 shopping centers in the county and suggested medical uses for Landover Mall, Landover Crossing, Iverson Mall and Forestville Plaza Shopping Center.

Knotts plans to present the study, which outlines the costs and potential uses for the four malls, to the council after budget deliberations end this month.

Knotts said he would like to partner with private companies and universities to turn the medical malls into teaching facilities where local residents could train to be nurses and technicians.

‘‘It’s something that benefits the entire community,” Knotts said.

Medical malls have increased in popularity in recent years and are now found in more than 20 states. By mixing the medical field with available space at thousands of struggling shopping centers, customers and businesses benefit.

Traditionally, hospitals have invested and built their own satellite medical malls. However, governments have begun in recent years to reach out to health care companies to use the projects to revitalize areas.

With its large suburban populations that want quick access to doctors and available real estate, Prince George’s is a good spot for similar developments, said Donald Hunter, whose Annapolis firm, Hunter Interests Inc., was paid $125,000 to study the issue for the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.

‘‘Prince George’s County is on the leading edge of this exciting new development trend and can assume a national leadership position,” he wrote in his study.

After surveying more than 104 shopping centers in the county, Hunter’s study recommended four spots for redevelopment, along with estimates on cost and use.

Landover Mall’s 88-acre site would make a perfect spot for transformation into a miniature village for ‘‘comprehensive treatment” of health needs, the study said.

Though it would likely cost more than $62 million to build a new facility and equip offices, the spot could make an ideal locale for everything from a physical therapy and sports medicine center to a senior day-care center.

County officials could capitalize on its location just off the Beltway by lobbying for a new Metro stop at the site, said Hunter, who estimates that it would require a $14.8 million investment by the county in partnership with a private company willing to front $47 million to redevelop the center.

Lerner Properties officials did not return calls for comment on the proposal.

Landover Crossing mall, located across the street from Landover Mall, could also make a great location for emergency medical services, Hunter said in the 180-page report. If a private business is willing to put in about $1.4 million, it could easily renovate the empty space at the center into a functioning emergency room for nearby residents.

Having a cheap and functioning private emergency center could ease the burden on the county’s struggling hospitals, Knotts said.

Iverson Mall in Temple Hills could take advantage of its dense population by opening up diagnostic medical companies like blood work labs, MRI and X-ray offices and referral services, according to the report.

In addition to providing a nearby site for residents to get needed tests, area hospitals could also open satellite offices at Iverson to help with patient billing, nursing care and other services, the report states.

An interested company could move in for about $5 or $6 million, the study estimates.

The fact that the study places an actual cost on the projects could help attract investors quickly, planning officials said.

‘‘The real utility of this kind of study is that it examined actual sites, rather than just the general feasibility of the concept,” said Fern Piret, the M-NCPPC’s planning director in Prince George’s County. ‘‘With buy-in from the elected officials and some ready investors, this kind of redevelopment could happen in the near term.”

The final candidate for a medical makeover is the Forestville Plaza Shopping Center, which Hunter said would make a prime candidate for a shopping center promoting healthy living. Forestville could easily house a day spa, health and fitness club, health food store, healthy restaurants and other wellness businesses for about $15 million.

County officials should begin meeting with residents and seeking interested companies to begin laying ground for the projects, the study recommends.

E-mail Daniel Valentine at dvalentine@gazette.net.