A.D. Makepeace and Southcoast Health System, along with Wareham town officials and state legislators, celebrated the grand opening of the 67,000-square-foot medical office building at Rosebrook Business Park with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday evening.

"It's pretty remarkable to be there for the ribbon cutting" less than a year after ground was broken on the project, said Chris Makepeace, member of the A.D. Makepeace Board of Directors.

Town Administrator Mark Andrews commended A.D. Makepeace for its work. "You had the perfect plan here," he said. "When you see structural steel, you see hundreds of jobs."

Southcoast occupies more than 65% of the building. Keith Hovan, president of Southcoast Health System and president and CEO of Southcoast Hospitals, said Southcoast has been able to improve patient access to treatment with the new office building. Physicians moved in earlier this month.

Fifteen primary care and specialty physicians are located at the facility, along with the Southcoast Center for Weight Loss. Outpatient radiology and laboratory services will be offered at the building beginning in July. Patients will be able to receive x-rays, CT scans, digital mammography, ultrasounds, echocardiology, nuclear medicine, and bone scanning.

The office building is "just the beginning. It's our commitment to continue to invest in this community," Hovan said.

A.D. Makepeace president and CEO Michael Hogan called the project a "down payment" for future investment in the community.

The Planning Board approved the site plan for the second medical office building at the Rosebrook Business Park on Monday, June 27. It will be roughly the same size as the current building.

Makepeace plans to eventually open a third building - a general office building - at the site.