CHAMPION — Mercy Health has plans to develop nearly 63 acres adjacent to Kent State University at Trumbull into a health care campus that may include relocating St. Joseph Warren Hospital.

The campus “could mean a number of things and include a number of services based on the needs of the community,” Mercy Health spokesman Jonathon Fauvie said. “We will enhance the care in the community because we are landlocked at the current site.”

The KSU Board of Trustees OK’d the purchase in September. The sale has not been finalized, but it’s safe to assume, Fauvie said, that Mercy Health has a strong intention to develop the site immediately east of KSU’s regional campus.

It’s premature now to say exactly what that development will entail except a center for services driven by the growing health care needs of Trumbull County, Fauvie said. Mercy Health has been evaluating those needs and determining the best mode of delivery.

“What goes into site selection goes back to the needs of the community, what impacts the different care sites have on the community. It goes into sustainability,” Fauvie said. “These are decisions that are not made lightly. There is a lot of consideration, a lot of thought behind planning new points of care. It goes to the investment, but also there are health care needs that people need met.”

Fauvie could not say a dollar amount for the investment in Champion.

St. Joe’s at 667 Eastland Ave. SE, Warren, is on two parcels that combined are about 8.5 acres.

As part of the sale, the partnership with Mercy Health and KSU will expand a new practicum, and clinical and internship opportunities for KSU students pursuing associate degrees in radiologic and imaging sciences technology, physical and occupational therapy assistant technology, respiratory therapy technology and mammography technology.

“Our focus has always been and continues to be on our patients and their families,” said Dr. John Luellen, market president for Mercy Health-Youngstown. “Collaboration remains a cornerstone in fostering community development and we are grateful to work with another local organization to further provide care in Trumbull County.”

RIVERSIDE

What Mercy Health wants to avoid happening is another St. Joseph Riverside Hospital, which fell into dire disrepair in the years after the hospital chain sold it in the 1990s to merge Riverside with Warren General Hospital on Eastland Avenue.

The facility has gone through several owners and really began to deteriorate after 2010. Its title is now held by Ohio in a state of forfeiture.

If St. Joe’s is part of the mix at the new campus, Mercy Health would redevelop the hospital “to benefit the greater community,” Fauvie said.

Fauvie cautioned it’s also premature to say what type of redevelopment would happen.

ENTERPRISE PARK

Mercy Health had interest in locating at Enterprise Park, a Cafaro Company-owned medical, educational and residential campus north of the Eastwood Mall.

Neither Fauvie nor Joe Bell, spokesman for Cafaro Company, could say Monday if there was definite “yes” from Mercy Health to locate to the park.

Fauvie said he didn’t know where that project stood and deferred comment to Cafaro Company, but did say it’s “clear in our message what our intention is” in Mercy Health’s commitment in Trumbull County.

Bell said it is inaccurate to assume Mercy Health’s announcement scraps plans for Enterprise Park or even scraps plans for a Mercy Health presence there. Both parties, he said, are still talking.

rselak@tribtoday.com