St. Luke's To Buy Expo Building For One-Stop Health Center

The former Pennsylvania Expo Center, which also once housed Builders Square home improvement center, will be vacant no more.

St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network has an agreement of sale to purchase the 107,000-square-foot building and transform it into a one-stop health care center, with doctors' offices, labs, outpatient treatment facilities, physical therapy and other services.

The plans were disclosed Wednesday night at the Board of Commissioners meeting, when St. Luke's representatives asked for a waiver from the township's land approval process. They sought the waiver since there will be no changes to the building's exterior, its parking area with 750 spaces and the driveways to and from Cetronia Road. 

The commissioners granted the waiver.

Bob Martin, the network's senior vice president, said St. Luke's will renovate the interior of the building, bringing many health care services to the location at 501 Cetronia Road. He said the network has similarly consolidated services in other locations.

As more and more services are consolidated there, Martin said for example, people will be able to see their obstetrician and pediatrician, and get X-rays and lab work -- all in one place.

That's better for consumers, he said, because the medical professionals tending to them "communicate more effectively with one another."

There will be no in-patient beds at the facility.

St. Luke's has signed an agreement of sale for the 17 acres of property with First Star bank.

"We expect to be there indefinitely," Martin said.

After the meeting, Martin said the network hopes to close on the sale by the end of the year. He expects renovations to begin in the spring and the first cluster of services to open by summer. He said the network is still determining which services will be in the first cluster.

In the memo distributed to commissioners, St. Luke's said the center would be used for various health care services, including doctor offices, out-patient diagnostic and treatment services, diagnostic laboratory, dialysis, urgent care and durable medical equipment. 

The Expo Center was recently used for , which was sponsored by South Whitehall, Upper Macungie and North Whitehall.