September 10, 2019

McKinstry in public-private deal for $60M UW/Gonzaga medical building

Images courtesy of CollinsWoerman [enlarge]

The Health Sciences and Innovation Building will have classrooms, labs, offices and study space.

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The building will be part of a health care innovation cluster.

The University of Washington School of Medicine-Gonzaga University Regional Health Partnership on Monday announced a new 80,000-square-foot center for medical education, health sciences and innovation at 840 E. Spokane Falls Blvd. in Spokane.

The $60 million Health Sciences and Innovation Building will be a public-private partnership, with McKinstry developing, designing, building and managing the four-story facility. CollinsWoerman of Seattle is the architect and Bouten Construction of Spokane is the general contractor.

When finished by August 2022, three programs will relocate to the center: UW's Foundations and Medex Northwest, and Gonzaga's Department of Human Physiology. The Foundations program covers the first 18 months of medical education and Medex is a physician assistant education program. They currently operate in Schoenberg Center on Gonzaga's campus, with 120 students in the Foundations program and 30 in Medex.

Gonzaga's program is part of its School of Nursing & Human Physiology. It has about 210 students.

The universities have each committed to long-term leases for the space. Funding is coming from private sources.

A news release from the Regional Health Partnership (RHP) says the public-private partnership will reduce risk, expedite completion and save taxpayers money.

“The RHP building will benefit the dynamic faculty and students at Gonzaga and the University of Washington while creating an innovation hub that expands Spokane's research capabilities through collaboration with local companies and nonprofits focused on delivering rural healthcare access in our region and beyond,” said McKinstry CEO Dean Allen in the release. “The building itself will be a model of efficiency in the built environment, demonstrating that important buildings in our community can also be gentle on the environment and serve as exemplars for others to follow.”

The center will have classrooms, anatomy labs, research and innovation centers, offices, study spaces, fitness facilities and a cafe/retail space. It was designed with high-efficiency energy systems, on-site solar and renewable energy generation, backup power, and high-speed wireless and data networks.

There will also be room for additional education programs and shared research projects.

The project site is adjacent to McKinstry's Spokane Inland Empire Railroad building and Gonzaga's Trent Avenue parking facility. McKinstry says its building will become part of a health care innovation cluster, with an additional 57,000 square feet for health sciences and medical industry leaders, startups and nonprofits.

At the Health Sciences and Innovation Building site, McKinstry is using old commercial buildings for its local fabrication shop. It will build a new shop somewhere in Spokane after the old buildings are demolished.