CHS may add up to 200 jobs at Shared Services Center in Fort Smith

Community Health Systems (CHS) is expanding its Shared Services Center in Fort Smith, adding up to 200 work stations with construction costs alone estimated at $4 million for the facility located in part of the former Phoenix Village Mall.

Lance Beaty, manager of FSM Redevelopment Partners and an owner of the former mall area, said Tuesday (Feb. 9) that he sought “expedited permitting” with the city of Fort Smith for expansion of a 27,000-square-foot area and a 7,500-square-foot area. Both areas will support the CHS expansion and bring total area for the hospital service company to 127,000 square feet.

“While I don’t know exactly how many jobs the expansion would create, the plans show well over 200 new work stations. I am sure the Shared Service Center will be addressing those details in the near future as the project moves forward,” Beaty said.

Based on previous updates from CHS, employment at the center could be around 600, with full use of the planned spaces pushing employment to 800. Talk Business & Politics has reached out to Community Health Systems and will update this story when/if they respond.

Not including furniture, fixtures and equipment, Beaty said construction for the CHS expansion will be around $4 million, with the work ideally beginning in early March and being finished by June.

“In addition to the expanded space, the parking lot will be reworked and several aesthetic and functional changes will be made as part of the improvements,” Beaty said, who through Beaty Capital Group also is in the midst of renovating the former Masonic Temple in downtown Fort Smith.

The CHS center was opened in September 2013 by then Health Management Associates. It was initially staffed to provide administrative support to 23 hospitals and more than 150 physicians.

Sparks Health System and Summit Medical in Van Buren were part of the early 2014 sale of HMA to Community Health Systems, a company whose portfolio of hospitals was nearly double the size of HMA’s portfolio. In addition to Sparks and Summit, CHS owns four Northwest Arkansas facilities — Northwest Medical Center-Bentonville, Northwest Medical Center-Springdale, Siloam Springs Regional Hospital and Willow Creek Women’s Hospital in Johnson. Systemwide, the company operates 193 hospitals and manages 29,715 licensed beds.

CHS FINANCIALS, CHANGES
CHS is a publicly held company and is set to announce fourth quarter and full year earnings on Feb. 17. The consensus estimate of the 22 analysts who cover the company is full year earnings of $3.49 per share, which would top the $3.29 per share in fiscal 2014. The full year revenue consensus estimate is $19.63 billion, better than the $18.64 billion in fiscal 2014.

For the first three quarters of the year the company posted net income of $268 million, much better than the $20 million in the same period of 2014.

The company is spinning off 39 rural hospital operations in 16 states into Quorum Health Corporation. Arkansas hospitals moving to the Quorum business are Forrest City Medical Center in Forrest City, and Helena Regional Medical Center in Helena. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2016.

CHS shares (NYSE: CYH) closed Tuesday at $18.43, down 17 cents. During the past 52 weeks the share price has ranged from a $65 high to a $17.65 low.

MALL BACKGROUND
Beaty, along with partner Dr. Steve Nelson of Fort Smith, purchased the 35-acre and almost abandoned Phoenix Village Mall in January 2009. After investing more than $16 million in the property, Beaty said the location is now home to more than 1,500 jobs with an annual payroll of more than $35 million. Sykes, a Tampa, Fla.-based call center operator, employs more than 700 at the former mall site.

The mall site has also seen expansion with the move of Empire Liquor’s Fort Smith store. The store, owned by Nelson, moved from the corner of Old Greenwood Road and  Phoenix Avenue, to a 10,000 square foot space in a renovated strip mall building on the 35-acre former mall site.