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Dimensions plans Landover hospital

Thursday, Sept. 22, 2005

Click here to enlarge this photo Rendering courtesy Dimensions Healthcare System Dimensions Healthcare System’s plans for the defunct Landover Mall property include a hospital, medical office buildings, retail stores, restaurants and a hotel.

Dimensions would shift most of the operations of its Prince George’s Hospital Center in Cheverly to the Landover facility, keeping the Cheverly hospital open mainly for emergency and support functions.

But while Dimensions — which operates six health centers in Prince George’s — publicly unveiled its plans last week, officials at Lerner Enterprises, owner of the 1.2 million-square-foot shopping center, have been mum about their intentions.

Representatives of the North Bethesda developer did not return phone calls seeking comment for this report. The company’s Web site, however, outlines plans for offices, a medical facility and retail stores on the 110-acre property.

In May, County Councilman David Harrington (D-Dist. 5) of Bladensburg, whose district includes the Landover Mall property, mentioned ‘‘strong discussions” between county officials and the developer to revitalize the property.

Dimensions’ plans include a hotel, restaurants, medical offices and a 250-bed hospital tower, according to Dimensions. The Cheverly hospital, with 1,800 employees, has 290 beds. The plans call for the new hospital to open sometime in fiscal 2010, a year after the renovation of Dimensions’ Laurel Regional Hospital and Bowie Health Center. No retail is proposed at the Laurel and Bowie facilities.

Paul Blackwood, Dimensions’ vice president of planning, said the Cheverly nonprofit’s $400 million overhaul would take at least six years, after the financially struggling system secures external funding.

‘‘It’s not finalized,” Blackwood said. ‘‘It’s a long process and we have a long way to go.”

As for the proposed hotel and restaurants at the Landover site, Blackwood said they are justified.

‘‘We think there are complementary services that could be provided,” he said.

Dimensions plans to tap the county and state governments for money to help build the facility and overhaul the entire system, which includes management shakeups and hiring additional medical personnel. Dimensions’ CEO G. Dunlop Ecker recently hired a new president and CFO for Prince George’s Hospital Center and a new president for the Laurel hospital.

Prince George’s Hospital Center, financially strapped mainly because it treats many uninsured patients, would cost $11 million to renovate. The hospital, according to Dimensions, has the highest percentage of Medicaid and uninsured patients of any Maryland hospital.

‘‘It’s no secret that the Dimensions Healthcare System has faced challenges over the past few years,” Ecker said during the plan’s unveiling.

Since 1999, Dimensions has lost more than $50 million. In February 2004, the Prince George’s County Council signed a $45 million agreement with state officials to bail out the struggling Cheverly hospital. Dimensions also paid Cambio Health Solutions of Tennessee $2 million to help overhaul the hospital’s operations.

Dimensions did better financially last year, as revenues topped $300 million.

In June, Dimensions struggled to make payments to its pension plan, prompting it to sell land and an office building near its Bowie Health Center. Between 2002 and 2004, Dimensions failed to send 10 required notices to Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. in Washington, D.C., its creditors and employees at the Prince George’s Hospital Center informing them of its difficulties in meeting its pension obligations.

In March, Dimensions applied for a payment waiver with the Internal Revenue Service for the 2004 plan year, giving it five years to pay about $11 million into the pension plan fund, Blackwood said.