Franciscan Health held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday for a new 82,881-square-foot medical building in Valparaiso’s Eastport Center Business Park.
The two-story building at 3400 Mariposa Drive is north of Ivy Tech Community College.
“This medical campus will be our fifth location in Valparaiso,” said Amy Dietz, director of physician practice management for Francisco Physician Network Michigan City.
The Valparaiso medical campus is scheduled to open in fall 2026. It will house Franciscan Express Care. Working Well Employer Clinic; Outpatient imaging tests including X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, and ultrasounds. and stress echocardiography. Additionally, there will be space for seven physician clinics and a total of 63 exam rooms. Franciscan will offer orthopedics, podiatry, pain management, urology, vascular surgery and more. There may also be room for an outpatient surgery center in the future, Dietz said.
Dean Mazzoni, president and CEO of Franciscan Health Dyer in Munster and Michigan City, said construction of the new facility has been in the works for more than five years. The pandemic set that process back two to three years.
“Building on the Franciscan tradition of bringing joy, compassion, and love to health care, we will soon offer increased access to quality services in one convenient location,” Mazzoni said. “This is our first major step in a multi-phase plan to grow with Valparaiso. We look forward to a long career here.”
“Valparaiso and southern Porter County are growth markets for us,” he said.
Franciscan Health officials broke ground Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, on a new 82,881-square-foot medical building just north of Ivy Tech Community College’s campus in Valparaiso. (Doug Ross/Post-Tribune)
A primary care physician’s office is located nearby on LaPorte Avenue. “We believe that primary care should be within a 10-minute drive,” Mazzoni said.
He said Franciscan Health is partnering with Ivy Tech Community College and Valparaiso University, both within walking distance of the new building, to train nurses and other health care workers.
Ako Sikoski, chancellor of Ivy Tech in Valparaiso, said he met with Mazzoni about two years ago and was told, “We need 80 nurses right now.”
“We’re very excited to have them next door,” Sikosky said.
Pass rates for nurses training at the Valparaiso campus are 100 percent for practical nurses and 98 percent for registered nurses, he said.
Medical students do clinical rotations at Franciscan facilities, Mazzoni said.
Bishop Robert McCrory of the Diocese of Gary used aspergillus to sprinkle holy water on the audience and grounds where the groundbreaking ceremony took place.
“As we celebrate this land, we stand at a sacred crossroads where technology, grace and humanity meet,” he said. “While we celebrate this land, we have specifically prepared it for a special purpose: healing of body, mind, and spirit.”
Renderings show what the new Franciscan Health Valparaiso Medical Campus will look like at 3400 Mariposa Drive. (Provided by Franciscan Health)
Mayor John Costas pledged to do everything possible to build this project quickly and successfully.
“Hallelujah to this project,” he said. “We are very pleased that Franciscan has decided to expand our services here in our great and growing city.”
“Your group’s reputation is excellent. They provide care for me personally and I know the public will benefit,” Costas said. “I’m so excited to think about all the healing touches that will happen on this ground that we’re sitting on right now.”
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
