Arthritis center expands in Spring Township

January 28, 2011

The Arthritis & Osteoporosis Center Inc. has been providing treatment in Berks County for more than 35 years. The practice, founded by Dr. Jerome S. Weisberg, has grown to 45 employees, including six board-certified rheumatologists. So it was no surprise that the practice outgrew its 10,000-square-foot office at 401 Buttonwood St.

After a year-long search, the practice moved to a new 20,000-square-foot office on Century Boulevard in Spring Township. The office is near several overlooking the Broadcasting Square Shopping Center.

Rheumatologists are medical doctors who specialize in arthritis and related diseases.

Diseases of the joints, muscles and bones can include osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, gout, back pain, myositis, fibromyalgia and tendonitis.

The rheumatologists design individualized treatment programs. The doctors were able to custom-design the space to fit the needs of their patients.
Dr. Peter D. Nicholas Jr. said they did so with the assistance of a popular city architect.

“William Vitale of Designworks Architects, Reading, was pivotal in the development of our green building,” Nicholas said. “When we looked at this building, it was an empty shell. This is a great central area with easy access. This is becoming a doctor’s hub of the area.”

One of the green features is 21 sun tubes on the roof, which illuminate the common areas. When there is enough sunlight to illuminate the tubes, the fluorescent lighting turns off.
The doctors’ offices are designed in pods that allow exam rooms and offices to surround the nurses’ station for communication and patient flow, he explained.
“The bottom line for us when designing this building was the idea that our patients are the most important aspect of the practice,” he said. “We treat our patients as if we are treating our own parents.”

Nicholas said a 2,000-square-foot physical therapy room was added.

“All of our doctors were sending patients out for physical therapy, so we thought it would be integral to have our own physical therapy here in our building,” he said.
The practice is a testing facility for new drugs.
“We get to use drugs years before they receive Federal Drug Administration approval,” Nicholas said. “That gives us a hand-up with the use of anti-rheumatic drugs.”

NAI Keystone’s Bryan Cole represented the property that The Arthritis & Osteoporosis Center Inc. purchased in Spring Township PA.  The site was owned and sold by Kinsley Properties who also built the facility.

Bryan E. Cole
NAI Keystone Commercial & Industrial, LLC
www.Bryan-Cole.com
Bcole@naikeystone.com
direct: 610-370-8502
3970 Perkiomen Avenue
Suite 200
Reading, PA 19606