Medical, fitness facility to be Water Valley Marina Plaza's centerpiece

Poudre Valley Health System will open a medical wellness center at Water Valley in Windsor in mid- to late 2009, stepping up services in the local health-care market.

he medical wellness and fitness center will be the centerpiece of Water Valley Marina Plaza, which will begin development soon in the 1,500-acre Water Valley community, Water Valley President Martin Lind said.

The development will include a spa, salon, boutique hotel, conference center, retail and amphitheater being developed by Lind overlooking the ninth hole at Pelican Falls golf course.

Plans for the boutique hotel and conference center are in their infancy, "but it certainly looks like it has wind," he said.

Lind made the formal announcement at the Windsor Chamber of Commerce's Business After Hours on Tuesday night.

Water Valley currently is home to about 3,000 people.

"The medical wellness and fitness center, combined with our existing resort atmosphere, will prove to be a regional destination for those seeking medical-based lifestyle changes," Lind said.

The 16,000-square-foot wellness center is a new concept for PVHS and will include primary care doctors, space for physical therapy and cardiac rehabilitation as well as a day spa featuring massage, yoga, a therapeutic pool and complementary types of medical alternatives, PVHS Chief Executive Officer Rulon Stacey said.

PVHS will lease its space in the Marina Plaza for the wellness center and fitness services. Another 9,000 square feet will house physician offices.

The development expects to break ground later this year and be open by late summer or early fall next year.

The wellness center will join a PVHS clinic already open in Windsor.

"From a Windsor market share, it is not as important to us as it is in the scope of services it provides," Stacey said.

"It's an entrance into an area of service that's important to us, and that's keeping people healthy as opposed to fixing them when they're not," he said.

Poudre Valley Health System has been expanding its services as it competes with Greeley-based Banner Health System for regional dominance and residents' health-care dollars.

Both health-care groups have been in expansion mode for a couple years. Banner Health, which operates McKee Medical Center in Loveland, is opening a clinic on Harmony Road just west of PVHS' Harmony campus.

PVHS, which opened Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland 16 months ago, is building a new medical office building there and at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins.

The wellness center will have some fitness facilities and will be open "for anyone interested in working with health-care providers to increase the benefits of their own lives, but it will not be a place where hard bodies will go to meet other hard bodies," he said.

Steve Ellsworth, PVHS vice president of system development, said the atmosphere at Water Valley fits well with what the health system was looking for.

"The location is fantastic for us," Ellsworth said. "It will really make this a successful project and will grow over time."

Lind said PVHS' commitment to Water Valley "solidifies our vision and motto of 'Life's Better Here.' "

Lind has visions of Water Valley becoming the Broadmoor of the north "by offering world-class wellness, golf and a resort atmosphere."