Construction has started on a new 40-bed inpatient hospital in Howard more than a year after the village initially approved plans.
The Howard Plan Commission in December 2023 approved Lifepoint Health’s application to build a two-story 50-bed inpatient rehabilitation facility on a vacant property in the 100 block of South Taylor Street. The project has since been reduced to 40 beds and is tentatively scheduled to open in fall 2026.
Lifepoint in August 2024 also got approval to develop a similar hospital in Oak Creek.
The size of the hospital isn’t the only thing that has changed about the project. Lifepoint has partnered with Alabama-based The Sanders Trust, a third-party health care real estate developer, to own and develop the hospital site. The Sanders Trust has ties to none other than legendary Green Bay Packers quarterback Bart Starr.
Here’s what to know.
What will Lifepoint Health’s role be in the new hospital?
Lifepoint Health will staff, manage and operate the new hospital, which is expected to employ about 120 people.
What kind of services and care will Lifepoint provide at its Howard hospital?
Specifically, Lifepoint will provide acute rehab and recovery care for people who suffer from stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, complex neurological disorders, orthopedic conditions, multiple traumas, amputation, plus other injuries and disorders.
The hospital plans include a 12-bed brain injury unit undefined in the Green Bay area.
What is an inpatient rehabilitation hospital?
A hospital like Bellin Hospital or St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center provides what’s known as acute care when you sustain a serious injury or have a medical emergency. Some hospitals also provide or offer inpatient rehab services, but not all do.
Inpatient rehab hospitals provide specific spaces for patients that need intensive physical therapy or other rehab following surgery, treatment or other medical issues.
Is there an emergency room in Lifepoint’s hospital in Howard?
No. Emergency rooms generally fall under acute care and will not be offered at Lifepoint’s hospital.
What will The Sanders Trust’s role be in the new hospital?
The Sanders Trust specializes in financing, developing and maintaining hospitals and clinics and that’s what its role will be in the Taylor Street hospital.
Thomas Henry and Steve Hewett, The Sanders Trust’s director of development and chief investment officer respectively, said a lot of health systems and health care providers turn to third parties like Sanders to develop, build and own hospitals like this one. It helps care providers reduce their costs to create a new facility so they can focus on operations.
Village records show an LLC tied to the trust secured the building permits for the new hospital in October 2024. And Brown County property records indicate the same LLC also purchased the property from Lifepoint in March 2025.
What is relation between The Sanders Trust and Bart Starr Jr.?
Rance Sanders, founder and namesake of The Sanders Trust, and Bart Starr Jr. were roommates at the University of Alabama. The pair would found Starr Sanders properties in 1989 with a focus on developing and managing health care properties across the United States. Starr Sanders in 1996 sold its portfolio to another health care real estate trust for whom the Bart Starr Jr. and Sr. went to work for for awhile.
Sanders would establish The Sanders Trust in 1997 with a similar focus on health care properties. After Bart Starr Sr. left the real estate trust, he returned to work with Sanders in an on-again, off-again situation. The Starr family no longer owns any stake in Sanders Trust, but the company’s website calls Bart Starr Sr. a “colleague, mentor, business partner, and most of all, a friend.” Hewett said Starr once joined him for a business road trip, one that proved successful.
“He was the most down-to-earth, modest guy you ever met,” Hewett said.
Lifepoint’s Green Bay-area hospital continues a years-long boom in health care clinic and medical center construction
The addition of a new inpatient rehabilitation hospital continues a health care building boom that doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. In just the last couple of years:
Contact business reporter Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @JeffBollier.
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