FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — To most people, the vacant lot at the northwest corner of Lower Huntington Road and Interstate 69 would look like a nondescript 40-acre plot that has been cleared and leveled over the past year.
But to Brian Bauer, chancellor of Indiana University Health Northeast Region, the site represents a new, efficient, 140-bed hospital scheduled to open in mid-2027.
“It’s exciting to stand here and think that it’s going to happen,” Bauer told WANE 15 in an exclusive preview of the site. “I can see it so clearly.”
As well as his bumpy off-road tour in the field, Bauer has faced some obstacles during his 10 years as hospital leader in Fort Wayne.
In 2017, Bauer was fired as CEO of Lutheran Health Network by Community Health Systems after he and a group of local doctors and investors tried unsuccessfully to buy the company for $2.4 billion.
CHS then sued when Bauer joined IU Health, and although he was allowed to stay on, he was barred from sharing any confidential, proprietary or nonpublic information until June 2020.
On Friday, as Bauer surveyed the future hospital site, all of that seemed like a thing of the past.
“I remember when I bought this property, I would come here with my sons and there was woods and fields,” he recalled. “To think that this field will now be used to care for patients, including my family, for many years to come, is really exciting.”
Bauer said the 300-acre site, which stretches to Homestead Road and already contains an IU Health medical office building, is ideal as the last undeveloped area along the interstate, and with enough space, the hospital could add a tower and nearly double its size.
Bauer envisions future family-friendly bike paths, pedestrian paths and soccer fields.
“We want to be good neighbors.”
Beyond the buildings, Bauer said assembling a team of 500 employees has been just as important. IU Health Northeast started with three employees and one patient in 2018. Now the system has more than 300 employees across eight locations, serving 30,000 patients in the market.
“We have a culture that people want to be a part of. The one thing that never changes in health care is that people care about each other. That will never change.”
