Mercy Hospital intends to transform the former Hansen’s Farm Market in Gorham into a medical building with an emergency room capabilities for minor injuries, doctors’ offices, labs, exam rooms and a business office.

Plans for the County Road medical center were made public for the first time at Monday’s meeting of the Gorham Planning Board.

After the meeting, Tom Greer, project engineer from Pinkham and Greer, compared the medical center to Mercy Hospital facilities in Westbrook and Windham. Greer said it would likely have a staff of up to 35, including doctors and nurses.

“It’s an exciting project. It’s an appropriate place for it,” Greer told the Gorham Planning Board, as he was introducing the plans for the first time publicly on behalf of developer Nathan Bateman of Bateman Partners.

In an interview Tuesday, Bateman said the firm is budgeting $2 million to renovate the 10,000-square-foot, single-story farm market and purchase an additional four acres.

The farm market sits on a 24-acre property near the intersection of South Street and County Road. The property had been owned by Hans Hansen, who ran a farm market there that closed last December after opening in 2001.

Hansen is retaining the remaining property, but Bateman said his firm had been hired to come up with a master plan for the rest of the property. He said the Mercy Hospital facility would serve as the first phase of a larger development that he expected to attract other businesses. Bateman said he is negotiating with a day care that is interested in moving to the site.

Monday’s Planning Board agenda described the project as a “primary care/quick care medical facility.” Mercy Hospital wasn’t represented at Monday’s meeting.

Diane Atwood, manager of marketing and public relations for Mercy Hospital, declined to release details about the project in South Gorham Wednesday, saying it would be premature.

Atwood described primary care as having doctors available for office visits. She said Mercy Hospital doesn’t use the term “quick care,” but it does have “express care” at its locations in Westbrook and Windham. She said express care is for treating minor medical problems, like cuts, sprains, bumps, coughs and colds.

Greer, who said Mercy Hospital would lease the renovated farm market, said the building would be completely redone, which would include lowering the ceiling.

Bateman said the facade would get a makeover, including the addition of a dormer to the front entrance and three cupolas to the roof.

Bateman said he hopes to start work on the building by July 1.

“We’d like to deliver it to the tenant by the end of October,” Bateman said.

Town planners will visit the site at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 14. A public hearing on the proposal will likely be held at the Planning Board meeting on Monday, June 1.

Matt Robinson, chairman of the Gorham Town Council, said Tuesday the medical center would create jobs, many high-paying ones, and opportunities in Gorham.

“This council welcomes anybody to Gorham with open arms,” Robinson said.

Hansen, the owner of the property, has been working for years to develop it. At one point, he sought a zoning change that would open the area to retail development, but the change was rejected by voters in a referendum.

In 2006, Gorham planners approved a development plan for the Hansen property that included three greenhouses and a barn on the 5.7-acre site of the farm market. The town also approved six residential houses, a four-unit commercial project and a day care for 49 children on the 24-acre site adjacent to the farm market lot. But none of those additional projects were built.

The Planning Board had required Hansen to pay for improvements at the intersection of South Street and County Road, which is used heavily by commuters at peak traffic hours, before developing the site further. Hansen invested about $400,000 in intersection improvements, including widening the highway, upgrading traffic signals, and constructing one granite island in addition to reconstructing one other island.

“I think (the medical center) will be a great asset for the community,” said Hansen, deferring further comment about the project to Bateman.

Tom Ellsworth, economic development director in Gorham, said the project is a good solution for the property, Hansen family and Mercy Hospital. Ellsworth said it would also serve areas west of Gorham, such as Buxton and Standish.

Ellsworth said the medical project would spur other development in the South Gorham neighborhood.

“Mercy Hospital is the first step,” he said.

The Hansen site, Ellsworth said, has additional development potential, but Ellsworth believed plans for the six house lots would be dropped.

Greer told the Planning Board a master plan would be developed for the rest of the site.

Bateman said the medical center is a “key attraction” for other businesses. Negotiations are under way for a day care, which hasn’t been built yet, but Bateman said one is already allowable at the site.

Greer told the Planning Board operating hours of the medical center would be 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Parking would have 49 spaces. Medical waste would be separate and handled by a separate waste hauler. Greer said improvements to the intersection have been completed.

Only one person spoke at Monday’s meeting. Martha Buisman, a neighbor who lives nearby on Burnham Road, said, “We like the idea of a health care facility,” but she wanted her property screened from lighting of the project.