Wheeler Health will begin construction for new headquarters on Centre Square by mid-February

Rendition of Wheeler's new building, corner of North Main and Hope St. | Photo compliments of Wheeler Clinic.

Posted By: Jack Krampitz February 8, 2023

By Jack Krampitz

Wheeler Health will begin construction of a new planned 46,000-sq.-ft. community health center and administrative headquarters on Hope Street on Monday and is hoping on having the building completed in early 2024, said Wheeler Health President and Chief Executive Officer Sabrina Trocchi.

“We have been securing contracts with the various companies that will be responsible for the construction of our building,” Trocchi said Tuesday morning. “We are excited to hopefully see the foundation work begin on Feb. 13.”

The site is on an approximately 1.3-acre lot between North Main and Hope streets. The ceremonial groundbreaking on the site occurred in September.

From appearances, the site has been quiet, but there has a lot going on during the past five months, said Trocchi, citing fundraising and contract work.

Wheeler announced last spring that they already had reached 80 percent of their $500,000 project fundraising goal. 

Trocchi said that private fundraising is still going very well and that Wheeler Health will also be pursuing federal and state financial assistance in completing the project.

When opened, Wheeler will employ more than 200 full- and part-time workers.

“We have approximately 180 employees from our present headquarters in Plainville who will be moving to Bristol,” Trocchi said.

Additionally, services currently offered at 10 Main St. and 225 North Main St will be moved into the facility on Hope Street. These services include adult primary care, pediatrics, behavioral health, and psychiatry and addiction treatment, among others.

The beginning of construction will end almost two years of a snail’s pace for the project. It was originally hammered out by the city’s Economic and Community Development office under the administration of then-Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu (D) and Trocchi in 2021, but after the Republicans swept to victory in November of that year, momentum came to a halt.

Despite the backing of Mayor Jeff Caggiano (R) and Councilman Sebastian Panioto, the other members of the all-Republican city council voted down the proposal. Wheeler returned to the city council with a revised plan in February 2022, having moved the proposed building to a different site on Centre Square. The council then approved the plan, reversing its previous decision.

At that time, Caggiano said he expected “shovels in the ground” in the summer of 2022.

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