Starting at 8 a.m. on a beautiful Wednesday, 12 vans began moving residents of Centre Crest nursing facility in Bellefonte to their new home, Centre Care Rehabilitation and Wellness Services in College Township.
The new $45 million facility, located on Persia Road off of Benner Pike, welcomed residents for the first time after about five years of planning and a year and a half of construction.
“It’s a great home for us and the new people that come in,” Charlie Myers, president of the facility’s Residence Council, said. “I think we’re going to be happy with it.”
With a capacity of 240 beds, the new 135,000-square foot Centre Care facility is about twice the size of the 83-year-old Centre Crest on East Howard Street. A central building is flanked by two wings and in addition to traditional long-term care, it has three specialty “neighborhoods” for memory care, high acuity care and short-term rehab. It also includes an on-site dialysis suite and a larger therapy gym.