The Spokane Veterans Affairs Medical Center says it plans to seek bids soon for a 10,000-square-foot addition to its facility in northwest Spokane that is expected to cost between $2 million and $5 million.


The addition will be constructed on the southwest side of the hospital, which is located at 4815 N. Assembly, and will double the size of the hospitals pharmacy to 6,000 square feet and allow the hospital to centralize its specialty care services, including traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury care, arthritis care, podiatry, and dermatology. The addition also will include waiting rooms on the main floor and 900 square feet of space on the basement level for a delivery area and mechanical room.


Omaha, Neb.-based HDR Inc. is designing the addition, says Cheryl Wood, chief of engineering for the facility.


Wood says the hospital has been short on space for some time, and patient volumes are growing due to the war in Iraq. Wood says the expanded pharmacy will bring the hospital in line with Veterans Affairs design guidelines for pharmacy size based on patient load. She says the addition will include some extra space to give the hospital the flexibility to move some other operations temporarily to complete additional interior renovation projects later.


The facility expects to open bids for construction of the addition in the middle of September, and construction could begin as soon as November.


In the meantime, the VA is planning some infrastructure projects at the hospital, some of which are related to the addition, and MTM Contractors, of Spokane, either is the apparent low bidder for or has received contracts for a number of those jobs worth a total of about $3.3 million.


One of those jobs, for which MTM has bid $1.99 million, involves replacing some chillers at the facility, including piping and electrical work, and expanding the hospitals cooling system to include additional water cooling towers, thereby increasing its capacity to accommodate the planned addition. Chillers are industrial cooling systems.


Gerry Jones, a project manager for MTM, says the company has been awarded a $635,000 contract to relocate Independence Drive, which is the hospitals main delivery route, on the west side of the facility to make room for the pharmacy addition. That work was to begin this week and is expected to be completed by the middle of December, Jones says.


MTM Contractors also has contracts for several other projects slated to begin soon at the facility, Jones says. One of those projects is a $280,000 heating, ventilation, and air conditioning upgrade for the hospitals computer systems area, which is scheduled to be completed in November. MTM also has a $296,000 contract to install a new chiller for the hospitals operating room and a $118,000 contract to do general construction, including installing utilities and plumbing for new supply-processing distribution and operating-room sterilization equipment. That project is expected to be completed in December.


Contact Jeanne Gustafson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at jeanneg@spokanejournal.com.