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The grand opening of an 85,000-square-foot facility by WESTMED Medical Group included a major facelift to three adjoining offices built in the late 1960s. They once headquartered the Melville Group -- a large retail holding corporation that changed its name to CVS Corp. in 1996 during a massive reorganization.
The complex, formerly known as Harrison Professional Park, has been renamed Purchase Professional Park, with a total of 220,000-square-feet of space along Interstate 287, near Webb Avenue.
The brand spanking new building added a fourth side to what officials were calling a "campus" or "quad," which preserved existing trees while adding new shrubs, grass and other landscaping.
The three preexisting buildings have half-century old box shapes resembling the newest glass-enclosed building. But as part of the 14-month construction project -- all three were modernized with new lighting, lobbies and parking -- and are 90 percent occupied.
Developers, local leaders and county officials hailed it as a boon to the region's economy and a magnet for further redevelopment in the Town of Harrison stretching north to White Plains and West Harrison where WESTMED has offices at 210 Westchester Ave.
WESTMED's other medical offices are in White Plains, Rye, Scarsdale, New Rochelle and Yonkers.
A time-lapse video of the 14-month-long project, which was replayed Wednesday for public officials, and WESTMED patients and other visitors, on eight giant TV screens throughout the new medical office building, can be viewed online here.
Development Partners from Simone Healthcare Development and Fareri Associates joined Harrison Supervisor Ron Belmont and Deputy County Executive Kevin Plunkett at Wednesday's ribbon cutting ceremony.
"It seems like yesterday we did the groundbreaking,'' Belmont said of a ceremony held in 2012. "I'm so proud of this facility."
"This is a very historic and important day in Westchester,'' Plunkett said. "This is what makes Westchester a great place to live."
Officials called the new multi-specialty medical practice the "future of health care." It is WESTMED's fifth full-service medical office in the county.
Joseph Simone, president of Simone Development, said, “The renovations and modernizations we have made at the Purchase Professional Park are a significant investment by our company that will clearly position this complex as the choice location for medical practices and business professionals in Westchester County."
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