MIDDLETOWN - Leaders of Middletown Regional Hospital may decide where to build its replacement Thursday - 16 months after seemingly settling the question.

        The hospital is landlocked on McKnight Drive in central Middletown, and its two boards of directors decided in the spring of 2001 to rebuild along Interstate 75. The site they chose, however, at Greentree and Union roads in Warren County's Turtlecreek Township, was torpedoed by the Warren commissioners and some township activists.

COMPARING PLANS

Click here to see a comparison of the three plans

        Since June, the boards have been considering a site just west on Greentree in Monroe and several sites two miles up I-75 at Ohio 122.

        “We are hoping that a decision will be made next week,” Larry James, Middletown Regional's vice president of marketing, said Friday.

        In advance of the coming board meeting, leaders of Monroe and Middletown attempted to clarify their respective proposals last week. If the hospital goes to Monroe, that city will share income-tax revenue with Middletown to honor hospital officials' desire to keep Middletown “financially whole,” Monroe Mayor Mike Morris said Wednesday.

        Middletown officials, however, are less than impressed with Monroe's offer, which prompted them to ask the hospital in June to consider sites on Ohio 122. That location also is preferred by many Middletown residents, Turtlecreek residents and the Warren County commissioners.

        There are hundreds of acres of undeveloped land both north and south of 122 on the east side of I-75, Middletown Mayor David Schiavone said. The city also is willing to relocate several existing businesses on the north side, including a miniature golf course, Cronin Lincoln Mercury Jeep and two hotels.

        “There would be a real concern about moving (the dealership),” Cronin General Manager Dennis Wander said. “You never want to invest years of your life in developing a business in an area you feel can be successful, and then have it all taken away.”

        Hospital President Doug McNeillhas stressed it is far more than just a hospital. Preliminary sketches show 550 acres of health and high-technology companies and a health sciences academy in addition to a hospital and doctors' offices.

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