DANVILLE — Angie Bickhart is looking forward to Christmas shopping in downtown Danville during her lunch break.

An employee in Geisinger’s legal services department for nearly 15 years, she was among the approximately 40 hospital workers who moved into the third floor of the new downtown office building Thursday. They were the first to relocate from the main hospital campus to the 30,000-square-foot Mill Street building, next to BJ’s Steak and Rib House.

“It’s nice being in new digs, and it’s more convenient. I’m local, so my kids can walk from school to my building,” said Bickhart, a Riverside resident. “I am looking forward to finding fun places to eat lunch.”

With the hospital’s informational technology crew setting up the computers and phones for the third floor early, what remained was unpacking the many boxes and organizing the chairs, filing cabinets and office equipment moved in by Miller’s Transfer, of Danville.

Some employees already had placed plants and pictures. Animal figurines and a flamingo statue were on display as well.

Dave Felicio, chief legal officer for legal services, said the conference room was full of boxes, and unpacking those files would take about two weeks.

The space his department of 30 has is slightly larger than the workers had in Geisinger’s office building next to the Foss Home.

“We’re pretty excited about coming downtown and being in nice new offices,” said Felicio, head of the legal office for eight years and a Geisinger employee for 20 years. Furniture in his previous office was 10 years old.

Lisa Longenberger, manager of legal operations for legal services, said some of their furniture was recycled from other locations and other furniture was new.

“It’s really nice. We love it,” Longenberger, a hospital employee for 21 years, said of the red brick and glass building. “The built-in desk space gives you more working space.”

Also on the third floor is corporate risk and insurance services with seven employees.

Tammy Leiby, associate vice president for corporate insurance, was unpacking boxes in her corner office, where she could see the mountain and other downtown buildings.

“It’s a very nice building. We are looking forward to being downtown,” the 24-year Geisinger employee said.

Some people in the building start work at 6:30 a.m., and others may work late in the evenings. The employees use parking permits in the new lots built by Danville borough. When workers aren’t using the lots, the spots are available to the public.

On Nov. 19, employees from public relations, marketing and development will move into the second floor. The first floor will be used, starting Dec. 10, by employees from the Clinic Decision Intelligence System.