Medical center proposed on US 70 in Swannanoa

Mission Health has applied for a permit that will allow it to build a large medical facility on an 8.7-acre tract at the intersection of U.S. 70 and Warren Wilson Road.

The Buncombe County Board of Adjustment approved a conditional use permit on Jan. 10, needed because the proposed medical facility exceeds the 50,000 square feet that the current zoning allows. Mission Health still must submit its building plans to get a building permit. In documents submitted with its request for the conditional use permit, it states that it expects construction to begin in March 2019 and be completed in September 2020.

Mission Health, the state’s sixth-largest health system, proposes building a 130,000-square-foot, three-story building with parking for 10 doctors and 60 employees, according to a site plan it submitted Nov. 10 in its permit application. The parking lot would have 158 spaces, as proposed, and be accessed from U.S. 70 and from Warren Wilson Road.

“Mission’s plans as to how to utilize the property and the type of service provided is still in the planning phase,” Sonya Greck, senior vice president of Mission’s Health’s Behavioral Health, Safety Net, Community Investment and Facilities division, said in a statement from the hospital. It declined a subsequent request for details.

Mission Health operates six hospitals and several outpatient and surgery centers. It has about 12,000 employees and 2,000 volunteers.