Mercy Health submits plans for new mixed-use development in Fairfield

Bon Secours Mercy Health, the parent organization to Mercy Health-Fairfield Hospital, has presented concept plans to develop a 9-acre parcel adjacent to the hospital.

Mercy Health submitted the plans for a mixed-use planned unit development on March 2 on the southern portion of the Benzing LLC property. A joint public hearing by City Council and Planning Commission on the plans, which includes engineering drawings by Cincinnati-based firm McGill Smith Pushon, is scheduled for March 28 for the proposed PUD. This 9-acre area is zoned B-1, which is the city’s institutions and office district.

The proposed development will be laid out at the public hearing, but according to the plans submitted by Bon Secours Mercy Health’s vice president of real estate development, there will be three structures on the 9-acre lot that sits at the northeast corner of Mack and South Gilmore roads.

The largest of the three is a 30,000-square-foot single-story medical office building at the northeast corner of the proposed lot. The second-largest is an 8,400-square-foot multi-tenant building at the southern portion of the lot along Mack Road. The third building is would be a 4,125-square-foot restaurant with a drive-thru at the northwest corner of the lot along South Gilmore Road.

Plans also call for three access points into the development. One is a right-in/right-out onto Mack Road. A second is a full-access entrance from South Gilmore Road. The third is an internal connection from the Mercy Health-Fairfield Hospital property.

The property is part of a 29-acre parcel commonly known as the Benzing property but was purchased in August by Benzing LLC, of which Joe Schwarz, of Fairfield, is listed as the principal. Schwarz approved a planned unit development concept plant for a residential development, known as Benzing Estates, on the northern 20 acres of the property.

Fairfield City Council approved the Benzing Estates concept plan in November, but in September, when the council first heard Schwarz’s plan in public, he said Mercy Health was “interested” in that southern 9 acres of the parcel. Schwarz’s residential development of duplexes and single-family homes would not be connected to the proposed Mercy Health plan.

Benzing LLC still owns the full 29-acres at this time, but Schwarz also said in September they’ve “negotiated and have come to an agreement on the price.” He did not disclose that price during that meeting. The Journal-News reached out to Bon Secours Mercy Health for comment, but spokesperson Nanette Bentley declined at this time.

Benzing LLC purchased the 29-acre parcel in August for $1.8 million, according to the Butler County Auditor’s Office, and the property has not yet been split.

Credit: Nick Graham

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About the Author

Michael D. Pitman

Michael D. Pitman has been a reporter in southwest Ohio since 1999. He's covered local governments in Warren and Butler counties, as well as state and national issues. He currently covers the cities of Fairfield and Hamilton.