Baptist Health to get multimillion-dollar tax break to create 600 new jobs near Hamburg
Baptist Health Lexington is on track to receive a 20-year multimillion-dollar tax break to create more than 600 new jobs for a $1 billion new outpatient surgery and medical campus in the Hamburg area that will open in 2024.
According to an agreement between the city of Lexington and the hospital system, Baptist Health will get a rebate of 1.25 percent on local occupational taxes for each new job created in the first five years. It will receive a rebate of 1.15 percent for new jobs created from year six to 20. The occupational tax rate in Fayette County is 2.25 percent of employee wages.
The amount Baptist Health will receive in rebated taxes will depend on how many new jobs are created, which will happen over several years. The maximum amount the healthcare system could receive over the 20 years is $12.7 million.
That estimate is based on all 600 jobs being created in the first year, which will not happen. Hospital officials have previously said the buildings will be completed over several years.
Baptist Health estimates those 600 new jobs will have an estimated combined payroll of $55 million with an average salary of $89,000.
In addition, Baptist Health has agreed to give the city 3 acres of its 129-acre property near Interstate 75 and Polo Club Boulevard for a new fire station.
The Polo Club Boulevard and Man o’ War area is one of the fastest growing in Lexington. Ball Homes recently received final approval for a 340-unit apartment complex nearby. The developer also received initial approval to build 80 homes and 78 townhouses off Polo Club Boulevard.
A new fire station to serve that area has been on the city’s to-do list for years. There is currently no money to build a station, but securing land in the rapidly developing Polo Club area is a critical first step. The land will revert to Baptist Health if Lexington does not build a fire station during the 20 years of the incentive agreement.
The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council took its first vote on the incentive package during a Tuesday work session. A final vote is expected in the coming weeks. No council member voted against the incentives.
The project’s preliminary development plan was approved by the Urban County Planning Commission on March 12.
Ruth Ann Childers, a Baptist spokeswoman, said the hospital group hopes to break ground in the spring on the outpatient surgery and medical campus. The campus will not be completed until 2024, she said.
Baptist Health announced its plans in November. In addition to the surgery center, the project includes a multi-story hospital and 12 other buildings that would contain a combination of retail and medical office space. Also included are two, seven-story parking garages.
Baptist Health Hospital will remain at its Nicholasville Road location. The second campus will help the hospital expand its services, hospital officials said this fall. Roughly 60 percent of Baptist Health’s patients are from outside Fayette County.
Hospital officials have said some of the services envisioned for the new outpatient campus include cancer care; diagnostic services, such as mammograms and colonoscopies; and urgent and emergency care.
Baptist Health spent $29 million in 2009 to purchase the 129 acres in what the city calls the expansion area — land that was added in 1996 to the urban services area, which is where development can occur.
Since the purchase, a Costco and a Cabela’s have been built adjacent to the hospital’s land.
This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 7:42 AM.
