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February 5, 2025

Encompass Health seeks extension to complete construction of $39M Danbury rehab hospital

Contributed An artist's rendering of the rehabilitation hospital being developed in Danbury by Encompass Health.
By David Krechevsky

The company building a 40-bed, $39 million rehabilitation hospital in Danbury has filed an application with the state seeking a six-month extension to complete construction. 

Encompass Health originally filed a Certificate of Need (CON) application in April 2020 to build the comprehensive rehabilitation hospital. It received final approval for the project from the state Office of Health Strategy (OHS) in August 2023. 

On Jan. 28, Encompass Health filed a CON application seeking a six-month extension of the time to complete the project. The CON final approval from OHS is set to expire on April 19, 2025, but Encompass has asked for an extension until Oct. 19.

According to the application, Encompass Health acquired the property for the hospital at 50 Reserve Road in March 2023 for $3.8 million, before it received final approval of its CON application.

Encompass Health has received the necessary approvals and permits from the city for the project, and said construction began last June. 

“Extensive sitework was required prior to commencement of construction of the building itself,” the company said in its extension application. “This included several months of clearing, blasting, cutting and constructing a retaining wall on the eastern side of the property.”

The applicant adds that, “absent any unanticipated delays,” it expects to complete construction of the hospital in August and admit its first patient in September.

The Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Danbury will serve a variety of patients, the application states, including those recovering from stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, amputations, orthopedic surgery or injury, cardiac episodes, and pulmonary conditions. The hospital will be an independent facility, accepting patients from all health systems equally, Encompass said.

While Connecticut has 26 acute-care hospitals, it currently has just two active, independent chronic disease hospitals — the 137-bed Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford and the 231-bed Hospital for Special Care (HFSC) in New Britain.

In addition to the Danbury facility, another facility is being developed in Waterbury by Pennsylvania-based PAM Health, which will operate a 42-bed chronic disease hospital to be built on a 4.5-acre Waterbury parcel it acquired late last year at the corner of Reidville Drive and Harpers Ferry Road.

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