A Pennsylvania hospital has received a state grant to help pay for the ongoing project to convert a former grocery store into a state-of-the-art data center that will house new electronic record-management systems.

Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett announced the US$3.25m economic development grant received by the Holy Spirit Hospital in Camp Hill Thursday. “Holy Spirit saw the issue of rapidly expanding need for space related to its data center as an opportunity, rather than a problem,” he said.

“The hospital will soon be able to recognize not only benefits for its operations, but will also be able to better serve patients.”

Holy Spirit currently houses its mission critical systems in multiple locations. Those locations do not have enough capacity to accommodate the records management and storage the hospital wants.

The new facility will house more than 27,300 sq ft of data center space on day one, with 10,300 sq ft reserved for future expansion. Construction is already underway.

The data center project was one of 54 projects to have received grants under an economic growth initiative the governor's administration kicked off in March. The initiative's goal is to retain or create nearly 60,000 jobs across Pennsylvania.

It selects projects based on their potential to create jobs and economic impact as well as viability and construction readiness.

Grants issued range between $250,000 and $5m. Grants issued so far total $125m.