LORIMONT PLACE SHOWCASES HSCA

An architecturally stunning multi-million-dollar retail-professional office complex and corporate home to Health Services Corporation of America is now open at 840 S. Mount Auburn Road.

"We're very pleased with the new complex," said HSCA Chief Executive Officer Earl Norman. "One of our major goals has been to have our corporate headquarters under one roof."

Lorimont Place, which is between West Park Mall and Doctors' Park, is a development of HSCA, a group purchasing organization for hospitals and alternate medical facilities across the nation. The complex is situated there.

The complex

The complex, of classical and modern Williamsburg styling, includes the four-level, 60,000-square-foot HSCA corporate headquarters building; a two-level, 32,000-square-foot structure for rental lease space; a two-level parking garage; and a 1.3-acre "out-parcel" area north of a plaza area. The out-parcel area is designed to accommodate up to a 12,000-square-foot anchor tenant with available land options.

The plaza at the center of the complex showcases a 45-foot clock tower and ties together the headquarters building and other parts of the complex, said Norman.

Norman said negotiations are in progress with a dozen "quality retail operations." He said, "We're close to finalizing with some of them."

The complex design follows the natural slope of the land. The upper level is on the same plane as the outer ring road of West Park Mall and the lower tier, where the main entrances are situated, is even with Mount Auburn Road.

"This development is planned so all of the buildings tie together harmoniously," said architect John Gary of J. Stuart Todd of Dallas, Texas. "The plaza focal point is unique. Many large metro areas would love to have this project."

The location

Norman said the company considered other cities for the HSCA development but decided to remain in Cape Girardeau.

"We considered relocating to St. Louis, Jackson and other communities," he said. "But Cape Girardeau is home. We chose to stay because we have faith in the city."

HSCA has an office in St. Louis with a staff of 45 and 10 regional sales offices across the country.

The new headquarters will bring all the local HSCA employees under one roof and will allow others to relocate here. Norman expects the current number of local employees to swell from 60 to 100 in the next two to three years. Most of the new positions will be at the executive level.

The office will also house the Health Careers Foundation. The not-for-profit association, founded by HSCA in October, provides $500,000 in scholarships for students in the health care field.

Norman said the strategic position of Lorimont Place to Interstate 55 will be enhanced by development of a new Mississippi River bridge and relocation of Route 74, with a new I-55 interchange.

"This is one of the reasons we built on the property here," said Norman. "We felt it would be important for local retail merchants to have retail locations between Route K and new Highway 74 for the bridge. We made a decision to develop property along those lines."

The tradition

HSCA has come a long way during its almost quarter-century of business.

"We'll observe our 25th anniversary next year," said Norman.

HSCA employs more than 125 people, with about 50 percent of them in the Cape Girardeau area.

"We have several people in the St. Louis office," said Norman. "We also have people in locations throughout the U.S."

The company operates in 49 states, Washington, D.C., and the island of Guam. The only state not included in the operation is Vermont.

"We can provide the health field with a million-and-a-half items," said Norman.

When Norman first opened his HSCA operation, it was in a storage room in Southeast Missouri Hospital.

"I worked part time as director of purchasing at Southeast Hospital and part-time in development," said Norman. "From the hospital storage room, we moved to a shared office at Doctors' Park, and later to our own quarters in a building at I-55 and Bloomfield Road."

Norman said it would have been hard to imagine in 1969 that HSCA would be at its present level within 24 years.

"At that time we were just a small, rural, purchasing group," said Norman. "Now we represent more than 1,600 health care facilities and have more than 2,400 health care accounts, and represent more than 170,000 beds."

The growth

Norman said the firm had great growth in 1992.

"In our business, we were one of the few that grew," he said. "And we grew faster than any one in our business last year."

Norman, a native of the Springfield, Mo. area, moved to Cape Girardeau in 1963, as area manager of an Addressograph and multi-graph company.

"I was working with hospitals in the Midwest with an electronic system for controlling prices," he said. "A new, group purchasing program for health care had been started in St. Louis, and I became interested in the concept.

"I knew I could sell," said Norman. "I was doing well with my Addressograph program."

Norman said he and his wife pooled their cash about $35 to $40 for printing of simple contracts, letters and envelopes, and "we were in business, with eight hospitals and 1,200 beds."

"We called on hospitals in Southern Illinois, Southeast Missouri, Springfield and St. Louis," said Norman.

"It wasn't until about 1979 that HSCA really made its big expansion move," Norman said. "We went into Oklahoma, Texas and Montana.

By 1984, HSCA was nationwide.

Norman called his original company Mid-America Shared Services. After acquiring the cooperative Purchasing Association of Arizona, Shared Services Corporation of Montana, and Commodities Purchasing Association of Colorado, the name of the company was changed to Health Services Corporation of America to better reflect both the national scope and size of the organization.

"Group purchasing has become a three-way relationship in the health care industry, and every member of the triangle benefits," said Norman. "Group purchasing helps lower the administrative and marketing costs for national suppliers, and health care facilities realize big savings by our bulk buying."