MultiCare Health System has purchased 30 acres of vacant land just north of Spokane. 

Kevin Maloney, Inland Northwest media relations manager for the Tacoma, Washington-based health care provider, says the site eventually will be home to a project that, “will support MultiCare’s work to provide greater access to care in the Spokane community.”

The property, located at 12115 N. Mellon Parkway, lies about a mile north of the former Kaiser-Mead smelter site and next to a Costco Wholesale Corp. store at 12020 N. Newport Highway. It’s currently zoned for heavy industrial uses, according to Spokane County Assessor’s Office records.

Maloney says the property, “will be used for future health care development upon the completion of U.S. Highway 395.”

In November, MultiCare submitted a commercial pre-application meeting with Spokane County regarding the site, but no action has been taken to approve or issue building permits since then.

Franklin, Tennessee-based industrial manufacturing company Kaiser Aluminum Investments Co. sold the land for about $15.7 million in March to MultiCare, according to tax information from the Washington state Department of Revenue. 

Maloney declines further comment regarding plans for the property.

The site of the future MultiCare facility will neighbor a 400-acre mixed-use neighborhood, dubbed Mead Works, that’s currently under development by Liberty Lake-based development company Greenstone Corp.

Last March, Greenstone CEO Jim Frank told the Journal that Mead Works will have 1,400 residential units and 1 million square feet of commercial space once it’s completed. He adds that a site that large will take about 20 years to develop fully.

MultiCare operates 12 hospitals in Washington state, including two in Spokane County: MultiCare Deaconess Hospital, in downtown Spokane, and MultiCare Valley Hospital, in Spokane Valley. It also has nine urgent care clinics in Spokane County.

In February, the organization reported employing over 830 full-time staff at its hospitals here.