The Colony Park Health and Wellness Center is expected to open in summer of 2027 and be the first building in the 200-acre redevelopment. Bulldozers are moving earth in the Colony Park neighborhood off Loyola Lane, east of U.S. 183 and south of U.S. 290 in East Austin. Next summer, Central Health and CommUnityCare will open a 34,000-square-foot health and wellness center. The site will be on 200 acres that is slated to eventually have retail, housing and more community services such as child care and a library. For years, residents say they have seen infrastructure expand to areas west of U.S. 183, but not to their neighborhood, which is 69% Black and Hispanic, according to Central Health's 2022 demographics study.
"The CommUnityCare health center at Colony Park is vital to this community," said Gary Swenson, chair of CommUnityCare's board of directors, at the groundbreaking for the new center on Saturday. "This is just the beginning, and we are excited for what's ahead."
Central Health, the hospital district for Travis County, operates health centers for specialties such as heart, kidney and diabetes care, as well as providing health coverage for people who make less than 200% of the federal poverty level. It does this through its Medical Access Program, which is similar to insurance. Central Health is funded through property taxes.
CommUnityCare, a federally qualified health center under the Central Health umbrella, provides primary care, women's services, pediatrics and dental care on a sliding scale. It receives federal support as well as support from Central Health.
The funding for the new health and wellness center came from $290 million in certificates of obligation Central Health secured last year. The taxes for those obligations will begin to be levied in 2027.
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, helped secure $1 million in federal funding to help the city of Austin build infrastructure for the site. "Less travel and more care, and that's what this is all about," he said of the center.
He noted that federal funding cuts have made this project necessary. "Our community health centers are doing the work every day to fill the gaps that the state and the federal government have created," he said.
The new Colony Park location is expected to feature:
- Primary care
- Dental services
- Behavioral health services
- A pharmacy with a drive-thru
- Lab services
- Wellness and prevention programs
- Community resources
- MAP, Medicaid, Medicare and Sendero Health Plan enrollment services
"It is a more accessible, coordinated and welcoming place for people to get the care they need and they deserve," said Dr. Pat Lee, the CEO and president of Central Health. It will be twice the size of the Del Valle center, which opened in October.
The center is not just a building, said Geronimo Rodriguez, the chair of the Central Health board of managers. "It is about access to care, wellness and resources that help communities thrive, and ultimately and most importantly treating every individual with respect."
The Black Men's Health Clinic also will be located there. That clinic serves about 3,500 men a year through outreach to connect men of color to care. That clinic has been limited in how many men it can serve because of space constraints. The new space could allow it to add an additional doctor, said Larry Wallace, who founded the Black Men's Health Clinic and also helped create the coalition to get the clinic built as a former Central Health leader.
"This has been very rewarding work," Wallace said. "This will be a place of healing and restorative care."
Central Health has had a presence in Colony Park since 2019 with a mobile clinic and then in 2021 with a resource trailer. The community has been asking for health services for more than 10 years.
"Having to fight so hard for something that seems so basic seems absurd," said Austin City Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison. But she reminded the community, "Sometimes celebrations come after hard-fought battles."
In Central Health's 2022 report, it identified that the neighborhood had 20,000 people, 1 in 3 are younger than 18; and 1 in 4 are enrolled in Central Health programs.
"It will be wonderful," said Sarah Jackson, a Colony Park resident since 1978. In her neighborhood, many people do not have insurance, she said. "This will be very beneficial to us."
Multiple speakers pointed to the "sea of purple," the neighborhood association members like Jackson who were wearing purple T-shirts and fought for this center for 10 years.
"This is a celebration of community; this is a celebration of what happens when you don't stop fighting," said Travis County Commissioner Jeff Travillion at the groundbreaking for the Colony Park Health and Wellness Center.
"I know the sweat and the fight and the advocacy that has gone into making this a reality, and I want to thank you for that," said Tara Trower, the deputy CEO and chief strategy officer for CommUnityCare. She noted that Colony Park has "made do" for too long. "That is what we are here to change," she said. "What we are building here is more than a clinic. This will be a full-service health center."
In developing the space, Central Health worked with the neighborhood to create the plan. Through that process, Central Health designed space for a library to serve as the neighborhood's first public library with the hope that eventually the city will build a stand-alone library. Austin does not have a library east of U.S. 183 in eastern Travis County.
Barbara Scott, who has led the Colony Park Neighborhood Association in getting the health center, also noted this area does not have an Austin Public Health location.
"This community is deserving," Scott said. The groundbreaking "is a reminder that promises made can be promises kept," she said.
Central Health and CommUnityCare opened the first phase of the Hancock Wellness Center at Interstate 35 and Airport Boulevard this month with a walk-in clinic, pharmacy, lab and the David Powell Clinic for people who have HIV. The second phase will open the Central Health specialty clinics.
A larger CommUnityCare women's health and pediatrics center is planned for the Rundberg area. Northview will be a center of excellence for women and children, Lee said.
A bigger Central Health respite center is planned for an office building on Cameron Road. It is in the design phase now.