Ameripath Breaks Ground On New, Larger Facility
By: Cynthia Vinarsky
BOARDMAN, Ohio - - Ameripath, a national provider of pathology services with 15 affiliated pathologists locally, is moving its regional headquarters from Southern Boulevard into a $2 million new facility on Western Reserve Road.
“Clearly this area has become the growing medical area in the region, and it’s important that we be where all the medical activity is going on,” said Dr. Tom Cambell, managing director of the Youngstown Ameripath operation.
The site, just west of Interstate 680 at 590 E. Western Reserve Road, Boardman, is near the St. Elizabeth Boardman Campus, a new acute care hospital Humility of Mary Health Partners is building on McClurg Road. Campbell said several new medical offices have also opened recently in the neighborhood and others are planned or under construction.
Proximity to highways is important, he said, because Ameripath’s couriers will be making frequent deliveries from hospitals and outpatient surgery centers. The company has contracts with St. Elizabeth Health Center, St. Joseph Health Center, Northside Medical Center, and Ashtabula County Medical Center.
Construction is under way, but the developers, Sylvester & Vernal Development Co., celebrated the new project with a groundbreaking Friday morning. The facility is set to open sometime in November.
Sylvester & Vernal will own the new, 16,000 square foot building but Ameripath has a 10-year lease. Joseph Sylvester Sr. said the building and land are worth about $1.7 million, and Ameripath will invest about $400,000 more on interior improvements.
Joe Sylvester Jr., chief executive of Sylvester Construction, Boardman, said the Ameripath building is part of Western Reserve Park, a 20-acre commercial and industrial center the company is developing in partnership with R.T. Vernal Paving and Excavating of North Lima.
Western Reserve Park has 16 tenants, including light manufacturing, professional offices, and a dance school, and is connected to the Bev Road Professional Center, another Sylvester project.
The Sylvester & Vernal Development partnership has completed other projects in the region as well, Sylvester said, including the Eastgate Commerce Park now under construction in North Lima near the Ohio Turnpike.
Campbell, the Ameripath official, said pathologists groups based at Northside Medical Center and St. Elizabeth merged their laboratories in 1996, and Ameripath bought the lab in 1998.
Ameripath employs 25 full- and part- time workers, in addition to the 15 member pathologists. The business is growing, Campbell said, necessitating the move to larger quarters.
Affiliating with the national anatomic pathology practice has advantages for the member doctors, Campbell said. Ameripath, based in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., handles much of the business, marketing, and management work, and with 40 independent labs in 25 states it offers economies of scale for purchasing equipment and materials.
Campbell says the 15 affiliated pathologists offer a wide-range of subspecialties, but Ameripath has specialized personnel and labs designed to help when the doctors encounter rare or unusual cases.
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