Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center has 29 capital improvement projects planned and underway in Spokane County that are valued at a total of $150 million. 

The improvements are part of a multiyear effort to increase access to medical care for veterans and the community at Mann-Grandstaff, which is located on 35 acres and has 75,000 square feet of building space at 4815 N. Assembly, in northwest Spokane.

David Arment, chief of engineering at Mann-Grandstaff, says three major projects are already in the works, each valued at about $20 million, that are intended to improve care provided at the medical center.

A 9,900-square-foot addition at the northwest Spokane campus community living center will create individual rooms for patients receiving care in the 34-bed facility. Renovations also are planned at the behavioral health building on the campus, with both of the projects scheduled to start by fall, Arment says.

Advanced Technology Construction Corp., of Tacoma, Washington is the general contractor of the community living center project, and AES Group Inc., of Parker, Colorado, is the architect, says Bret Bowers, public affairs officer at Mann-Grandstaff.

Design plans by Tempe, Arizona-based Aesus Design Group for the behavioral health renovation project show improvements to the existing 7,900-square-foot building will primarily focus on replacing mechanical equipment units and plumbing. A 515-square-foot mechanical room expansion and sidewalk improvements are also planned at the site.

Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering services also will be provided by Aesus, as well as landscape architecture. Highlands Ranch, Colorado-based Calibre is the civil engineer, and Thornton Tomasetti, of San Diego, is the structural engineer for the mental health project, design plans show.

A third project—improvements for a 17,000-square-foot new clinic space at 12509 E. Mirabeau Parkway, in Spokane Valley, is expected to wrap up in October. Spokane Valley-based Divcon Inc. is the general contractor, and Leo A. Daly, of Dallas, is the architect for the Spokane Valley clinic, says Bowers.

The Spokane Valley clinic is located about a half-mile west of the Spokane Vet Center, located at 13109 E. Mirabeau Parkway.

Kevin Bratcher, executive assistant to the director of the medical center, says securing the lease of the Spokane Valley clinic is a double win for the organization.

"We've run out of space here at the main facility for primary care services," Bratcher says. "This offers an additional opportunity for space and it offers convenience for veterans moving to the Valley, which is a hotspot." 

He adds, "We're just fortunate enough that it's also located in close proximity to the vet center, which is an outpatient mental health program that treats combat vets and a variety of other folks."

At the main campus in northwest Spokane, parking lot improvements that began in May are expected to be complete in the next four to six weeks in a project that is reorganizing and repurposing some employee and patient parking areas and will include the relocation of an STA transit stop on campus, Arment says. 

G2 Construction Inc., of Fairbanks, Alaska, is the contractor and Planate Management Group LLC, of Alexandria, Virginia, designed the parking lot improvements.

A $14 million elevator replacement project that will update four elevators in the main hospital will follow the completion of the transit relocation project. The design-build team for the elevator replacement project is Spees Design Build, of Burien, Washington, and Elevated Technologies Inc., of Phoenix, says Bowers.

The majority of the remaining improvements are part of plans to increase access to health care and the experiences of veterans receiving care through minor equipment replacement and building maintenance projects, Arment says.

"In about a year, we're looking at doing another addition to primary care with a new building on the back side of the hospital and another new building on the front side of the hospital for mental health," says Arment. "Those are roughly 10,000 square feet each and are still in the design phase."

The new clinic in Spokane Valley was leased from Hamstra-Juliet JV LLC, of Dallas, says Bowers.

"It's a sizable project," Arment says. "The best thing about all of this is it expands care for veterans. It's the best possible outcome of all this as we're increasing our footprint at a time when the country is concerned about providing health care, and the VA is doing its part."

Mann-Grandstaff also operates two health clinics in Spokane and additional clinics in Coeur d'Alene and Kootenai, Idaho; in Libby, Montana; and in Wenatchee, Washington.

Bowers says the capital improvement projects have been planned since 2020. About 30,000 veterans have been enrolled in VA health care in the last 1 1/2 years in Washington state, and the Mann-Grandstaff VA currently sees 45% of veterans in the region it serves.

"Our facility is poised to upgrade our infrastructure to meet this expected need of veterans in the community at large ... and ensure our resources are up to par and available to veterans that are moving to the Pacific Northwest," Bowers says.