What's being built in this prominent spot on Knoxville Avenue? Here's what we know
A $5 million oral surgery center is under construction on Knoxville Avenue.
Associated Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons is leaving its current location at 2807 N. Knoxville Avenue for a new, roughly 15,000-square-foot building at 5720 N. Knoxville Avenue next to Junction City.
Nate Schroeder, a surgeon and one of the owners of the company, said completion of the new location — double the size of their current space — is expected in September 2024. Construction began in September of this year.
Schroeder said the project has been in the works for about four years, but setbacks with construction costs and uncertainties with supply chain issues have caused delays. Schroeder said costs have been higher than anticipated — the building alone costs around $5 million.
The new building will allow the practice to continue to implement new technologies and hopefully recruit more surgeons. Patient care will be more efficient in the new building and there will be more space for staff, as well.
And, of course, an aesthetic upgrade is a factor.
"The building will finally be reflective of the care our docs have been providing," Schroeder said.
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Patient care will occupy roughly 10,000-square-feet of the new building, and administrative support will encompass the rest, Schroeder said.
Their current building has been home to the practice since 1980 when some of the operation's original doctors constructed the building. Schroeder said now is the time to move on.
"You could see there were some things getting a little long in the tooth, and there were some physical limitations to the building we just couldn't overcome to get to where we wanted to be," Schroeder said. "Even though it is by all accounts still a good building and in a good location."
About 45 employees will work out of the new building, something Schroeder says will make a positive impact on the neighboring shops and restaurants of Junction City.
"But now we'll further help bolster the businesses and neighbors we have in that commercial area at Junction City, where during lunch hours and things like that the businesses in that area will benefit from our presence," Schroeder said. "Patients' family and loved ones, instead of being confined to a waiting room for the longer procedures we do, they can venture out to shops and restaurants."
Schroeder's company, HGSM Enterprises, bought the land for $825,000 in 2021 from Assisted Living Companies LLC. Assisted Living Companies had originally purchased the land in 2015 for $1.2 million and had plans to build an assisted living home. Those plans never came to fruition, however.
The site was also former location of several bars and restaurants — lastly American Pi, a nightclub that was razed in 2015.
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This article originally appeared on Journal Star: What's being built along Knoxville Avenue in Peoria?
