Zoning approved for planned Mercy cancer center in Fort Smith

Recent approval by the Fort Smith Planning Commission to rezone property at 8100 Phoenix Ave. to a Planned Zoning District moves Mercy Fort Smith a step closer to building a new cancer center in the city.

The 9.79-acre site is located west of the Whattaburger location and across Phoenix near Mercy’s Orthopedic Hospital. According to Planning Commission documents, the rezoning allows “development of a two-story 111,000 s.f. (square foot) multi-specialty medical clinic along with the other uses listed within the land use chart.”

“The subject property is on the south side of Phoenix Avenue and west of Massard Road. The tracts contain an area of 9.79 acres with approximately 135 feet of street frontage along Phoenix Avenue and 150 feet of street frontage along Massard Road,” noted a memo from Planning Commission staff.

Mercy declined to comment on the rezoning, but several sources confirmed that the site is where Mercy plans to build a cancer center.

Ryan Gehrig, president of Mercy Hospitals Arkansas, said in July 2022 that Mercy is planning to build a cancer center in Fort Smith. His statement came after St. Louis-based Mercy said that part of a $500 million expansion in Northwest Arkansas will include a modern cancer center in that metro area.

“The plan to build a new state-of-the-art cancer center in Fort Smith remains on track and is unimpacted by Mercy’s announcement to build a cancer center in Northwest Arkansas,” Gehrig noted in July 2022. “The two locations will provide much needed additional cancer care to both growing regions, allowing patients to receive care close to home where they have the support of their family and friends. The decision to build cancer centers in both communities is based on the needs of each region and takes into account the resources already available for oncological care.”

Initial discussions had the cost of a new Fort Smith cancer center near $70 million, but that was for a site near the hospital and on property Mercy owned. Mercy’s cancer center in Fort Smith is now located in the main hospital near the Labor & Delivery wing.

CANCER SERVICES EXPANSION
Several medical groups in Arkansas have opened or announced new cancer services and facilities in recent years.

Mercy Fort Smith spent just under $3 million to install a new GE Omni Legend PET/CT scanner, with General Electric saying the Fort Smith hospital is the first in the country to have its latest imaging device. The device, announced in April 2023, is located in a newly renovated space in the hospital and its first use was April 10. Kevin Bowen, Mercy director of imaging services, said the device cost around $2.5 million and renovation of the space housing the scanner cost $450,000.

In May 2023, Baptist Health and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) opened a new cancer clinic and infusion center on the campus of Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock. UAMS Baptist Health Cancer Clinic-Little Rock provides a full spectrum of options for cancer patients such as prescribing the appropriate chemotherapy and leading a multidisciplinary approach to address all of a cancer patient’s health needs.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute opened in July 2023 a new Radiation Oncology Center with expanded capabilities to provide advanced radiation treatments for children and adults with cancer, including the state’s first Proton Center. The $65 million, 58,000-square-foot structure at 3900 W. Capitol Ave. in Little Rock was built to accommodate three new linear accelerators that customize radiation delivery based on the type and stage of a patient’s cancer. UAMS said the facility is the only cancer center in Arkansas to offer Ethos Adaptive Therapy, a unique form of X-ray radiation that adapts to daily changes in a tumor’s shape and position over the course of treatment.

In August 2023, Highlands Oncology paid $13.6 million for approximately 51 acres along southbound Interstate 49 in Rogers for a 150,000-square-foot facility that will be part of a cancer care campus.

“It will have all of the comprehensive services current Highlands [facilities] provide, with expanded capacity to meet the cancer care needs of Northwest Arkansas into the next decade,” noted a statement from Daniel Bradford, a founding principal at Highlands.

Bradford described the development as a medical technology innovation campus, “creating a unique opportunity for having collaborative advanced cancer care in Northwest Arkansas not available anywhere else in the country.”