By TOM JACKSON
tomjackson@sanduskyregister.com

PERKINS TWP. - Patients will see plenty of service improvements when the Parschauer Eye Center completes its expansion, the center's owners and managers promise.

The center at 2616 Hayes Ave. in Perkins Township, a former plastic surgery building built in 1998 and purchased by local ophthalmologists John and Ken Parschauer in 2002, is used for the doctors' eye surgery practice. The eye care practice that helps patients who need new glasses and contact lenses is housed in about 10,000 square feet of space at 2020 Hayes Ave. in Sandusky.

But the Parschauers will complete construction this year on 18,000 square feet of new buildings at the 2616 Hayes Ave. location that will allow them to consolidate all of their eye care in one location, a convenience for patients.

The existing building has 6,000 square feet, so the practice will have a total of 24,000 square feet in one location. The goal is to open the new building by September.

"People sometimes get confused about which location to go to," Ken Parschauer said. "We can consolidate a lot of services."

The current building has eight examination rooms, but the new building will have 18 examination rooms for use by the Parschauers and by the three optometrists who work at the Parschauer Eye Center, said Cathy Wiedenheft, administrator of the center.

The extra room is expected to improve patient flow and allow the doctors to see more patients, Ken Parschauer said.

The doctor declined to say how much the construction will cost, but said the better patient flow should result in increased revenues.

"We have a limited amount of people we can see in a day. We're booking months out," he said. "Our hope is as we can service people more efficiently, our business will grow."

Including part-time people, the eye practice and surgery practice owned by the Parschauers employs about 45 people, Wiedenheft said.

One of the design features that the Parschauers are particularly pleased with are the covered areas at two locations: The building entrance, and a drive-through where people can pick up their new glasses and contact lenses without having to go inside the building. Both areas will feature heated concrete surfaces. When patrons pull up to the door, "they won't have to worry about ice and snow in the winter months," Wiedenheft said.

The construction is being carried out by Schaefer Construction of Sandusky. The new building was designed by Greg Schmid, an architect with Poulos + Associates Architects, Inc. of Sandusky.
The waiting area will be two stories tall to provide "an open space, an open feel as you enter the building," Schmid said.

"We really liked the look of what was built there initially. We played off of that design," Schmid said. He described the style as "kind of like Colorado-style architecture." The Parschauers' wives, Lucy Parschauer and Beverly Parschauer, have designed the interiors. Instead of the normal office look of oak doors and off-white walls, the two are providing "some nice warm color palettes," Schmid said.
"We like to mix things," Lucy Parschauer said. "We like to mix styles and not be very stereotypical of an office. We're using a lot of ebony-stained woods and warm tones in colors and wallpapers."
"I just love the stuff they pick out because it's not what you would think you would see in every office building," Schmid said. "They have an eye for something that's a little bit unique without putting a lot of additional cost in the project."

Current pictures are posted here.

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