The final lot at the Lime Spring Square shopping center on Rohrerstown Road in Lancaster will be developed for a rapidly growing veterinary clinic nearby, the project's developer has announced. A groundbreaking ceremony for Pine Creek Animal Hospital at Manor was held at the new location by Lime Spring Square developer Oak Tree Development Group.

Pine Creek anticipates moving to the much larger and far more functional building in March 2024. There, the clinic expects to double its staff in two years, according to veterinarian and owner Ashley Tuma.

The clinic's 6,400-square-foot facility will be the 12th building in the 65,000-square-foot retail center, capping an eight-year endeavor and a total investment of $22 million by Oak Tree.

Lime Spring Square's retail center at 206 Rohrerstown Road, near Columbia Avenue, is focused on providing products and services for people who live or work in the vicinity. Pine Creek will be located behind Citadel Credit Union.

Tuma has been practicing since 2008 and self-employed since 2018, when she purchased her employer, Atglen Animal Hospital, and renamed the business after the street it is on. She's tripled the Gap practice's revenue and quadrupled its workforce to about 35. The location has broadened its scope as well. In addition to caring for dogs and cats, it now treats exotic pets as well.

Tuma added a second practice in December 2022 by purchasing the Manor Animal Hospital, 2100 Stone Mill Road, just off Millersville Road. But its 1,900 square feet only includes three exam rooms and 10 parking spaces. Nonetheless, it is adding 70 to 80 new clients a month, according to Tuma, 41, of Holtwood, a graduate of Solanco High School, University of Maryland and Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine.

By moving the practice just 1 mile north to Lime Spring Square, Tuma hopes the new location's proximity to its current address will help the practice retain its client base. She believes the upgrade in facilities will do that too, as well as attract new clients.

At Lime Spring Square, Pine Creek will have a building of 6,400 square feet, 10 exam rooms, 40 parking spaces and bigger spaces for surgical and dental procedures.

With the move, Tuma expects that practice to expand from two veterinarians to four or five, increasing a rise in the workforce from 18 currently to about 35. Additional doctors and staff will enable the practice to extend its hours.

Though Tuma will lease the building from Oak Tree, the developer is tailoring the structure's design to the practice's needs. Oak Tree will invest about $1.3 million in construction and site work; Tuma will spend more than $200,000 on new X-ray, ultrasound, laboratory and other equipment and furnishings.

Heck Construction is the general contractor. Core Design Group is the project architect. The land planner is RGS Associates.

Oak Tree proposed the Lime Spring Square shopping center in 2015 and broke ground in 2017. Besides the shopping center, Lime Spring Square also has 542,000-square-feet of commercial and industrial space. That commercial and industrial portion is expected to be completed in 2025, bringing Oak Tree's total investment in the entire Lime Spring Square development to $110 million, according to Mike O'Brien, Oak Tree president.

Next to Lime Spring Square is Lime Spring Farm, another Oak Tree development, consisting of commercial, industrial and residential space.

Lancaster-based Oak Tree is among the county's leading developers. Its other projects include redeveloping the Wilbur Chocolate factory on North Broad Street in Lititz into a mix of new uses and creating the mixed-use campus anchored by Penn State Health Lancaster Medical Center on Harrisburg Pike in East Hempfield.