GREECE, N.Y. (WROC) — Planned Parenthood in Greece closed back in December and many people in the town have been wondering why.

Senior director of public and community affairs at Planned Parenthood of Central and Western New York, Debora McDell-Hernandez, said patients were notified it would be closing in December 2020, when the property owner decided to sell the land the building was on. She said the property owner gave Planned Parenthood ample notice that they planned to demolish the building. She said patients were advised to go to the University Ave location in the city.

McDell-Hernandez said findings from marketing research in November 2019 led to the decision to rebuild in Henrietta instead of relocating in Greece.

“One of the things that made Henrietta stand out as a new office location was that it has a diverse population and the location was optimal for patients who are traveling from the south of Rochester,” she said. “The Greece health center was located in an area where the residents were on an average 20 years older than those around our University Ave location.”

Greece resident Jenna Curcio said she still thinks there’s a need for these services in Greece and on the west side of Monroe County in general.

“Especially the younger women in Greece who might not have transportation to the one in the city location or this new possible Henrietta location, how are they going to get different reproductive services,” she said.

Curcio said her main question is why would the Greece location have to close for a Henrietta location to open? McDell-Hernandez said the money and staff isn’t available to open two centers.

“We had staff in Greece but now we would have to if we had both an office in Greece and Henrietta that would require us to have more funds to hire additional staff.”

Planned parenthood has a site for the new health center in Henrietta but can’t share that information just yet. They said the opening date will be some time between November and January.

Planned Parenthood also sent News 8 this information regarding the market research:

Our decision to leave Greece and have a health center in Henrietta was based on marketing analysis findings in November 2019 from a consultant who specializes in this type of work. Our Greece health center location was at the outer edge of the population density of greater Rochester and while much of greater Rochester was forecasted for slight growth, the Greece health center was not located in such a community. The community around the Greece health center has among the oldest median age in the greater Rochester area. Henrietta has a younger, more diverse (income and race/ethnicity population than Greece, and also expands access for patients traveling from south of Rochester.