Geisinger Medical Center in Danville announced the purchase of four acres of land in College Township to build a new medical facility for the State College area.

Geisinger will build a laboratory and offices for doctors at the new location, said Mark Lloyd, vice president for corporate communications.

The new center will allow doctors already in the State College area to consolidate, Lloyd said. The center will also enable Geisinger to provide more cost-effective care, he said.

The center represents a convenient opportunity for patients, who will not have to make numerous office trips, Lloyd said.

"State College is an attractive, growing community," he said. "We looked at other areas but chose this location because it is accessible to roads and the Centre Community Hospital."

The facility, slated for construction in land zoned R-O for residential or office buildings, will be located in Scenery Park off South Atherton Street, said William Weaver, zoning officer for College Township.

Geisinger, one of the largest medical facilities in central Pennsylvania, serves the area from Danville and frequently is used in place of Centre Community Hospital for patients with more serious injuries such as trauma.

The State College auxiliary center --which will house an allergist, a cardiologist, a pulmonologists or lung specialist, and several family practitioners --may eventually add other specialists to provide further service.

Construction is not scheduled to begin until mid-1990 and no exact costs have been determined, Lloyd said. No formal plan has been submitted yet to township authorities, Weaver said.