Check Out The Progress on the Highmark Medical Mall in Pine

What a difference a few months can make.

In December, Highmark broke ground in a "one-stop-shop" medical mall on Route 19 in Pine near the Northway Christian Community Church.

In the time since, the steel foundations for the 174,000 square-foot facility has blossomed on the site.

The estimated $100 million mall is expected to be complete by summer 2014.

Part of Highmark's new "integrated delivery system, the facility will include a women's care center, a pediatric clinic, obstetric services and a child care drop off room.

It also will include a cafe and a demonstration kitchen where people will be taught to cook healthy meals.

The massive structure will be "patient-centered and a state-of-the-art patient experience," according to Highmark officials.

Allan Klapper, system chair of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at West Penn Allegheny Health System, said the mall will make life easier for patients in the North Hills by providing a variety of services in one spot.

Currently, a woman needing ob/gyn care might need to travel from Wexford to Pittsburgh and the South Hills to get specific services.

With the comprehensive care that will be offered at the Wexford Medical Mall, a woman will be able to have a wellness visit as well as getting a mammogram, blood work and fill a prescription all in one spot, he said.

With northern Allegheny County home mostly to UPMC facilities, including UPMC Passavant hospitals in McCandless and Cranberry, the medical mall will be the first large-scale Highmark facility north of Pittsburgh. 

Pine Supervisors Chairman Michael Dennehy told Patch at the groundbreaking that the facility was "much-needed" in an area dominated by one insurer-medical provider. Highmark's contract with UPMC expires Dec. 31, 2014. 

"We're happy to have something like this come into the township," Dennehy said. ""Competition is good."