PORT ANGELES — You can’t erect a new, big edifice without breaking up a few old, little ones, at least not on the block across Caroline Street from Olympic Medical Center.
The two-floor, 42,000-square-foot, $15.3 million medical office building, plans for which hospital officials unveiled last week, will stand on land presently occupied by nine structures in the block bounded by Race, Caroline, Washington and Georgiana streets.
All are owned by OMC.
The structures will be razed as construction schedules demand, although the current Specialty Clinic and Children’s Clinic will remain open until its operations can move into the new building, probably next spring or summer.
Plans for structures
The buildings, addresses, former or current uses and demolition schedule, according to OMC officials:
■ Since the Volunteers in Medicine of the Olympics clinic has moved from 909 Georgiana St. to 819 Georgiana St., the building in the 900 block, which is now empty, will be razed in the first phase of construction, which is set to start in July.
■ The old Home Health annex, 920 Caroline St., vacant, will be demolished in the first phase.
■ Former administration offices, 926/928 Caroline St., vacant, will be razed in the first phase.
■ Garages at 927 and 935 Georgiana St., which housed OMC information technology and Home Health facilities, respectively, may be torn down in the first phase.
■ The former Home Health main building, vacant, and old IT offices, 927 and 935 Georgiana St., respectively, are scheduled to be razed between September and November.
■ The present Peninsula Children’s Clinic, 902 Caroline St., will remain until its operations can move into the new building around June 2016.
■ The current Specialty Clinic, 923 Georgiana St., which houses specialists in urology, cardiology, pulmonary medicine and internal medicine, likewise will remain until the new building can accommodate it.
Final cost estimates on the new structure are expected April 30, with construction bids to be solicited May 19 and bids opened and contracts awarded June 22.
The hospital will include a “not to exceed” factor of 20 percent when it awards the bids.
Work will start in July, with completion expected in August 2016.
The medical office building will house 60 exam rooms, a walk-in/urgent care clinic, X-ray facilities, doctors’ offices and staff rest areas.
Caroline Street is expected to be vacated and pedestrian walkways constructed from the hospital’s main entrance to the new building, which will back onto Race Street and face east across parking lots toward Washington Street.
The hospital also will buy alley space through the site.
The Port Angeles City Council will consider May 5 approving OMC’s purchase of Caroline Street along the north side of the site and the alley that runs through it.
OMC has offered $288,750 — the appraised rate of $15 per square foot — for the street and alley.
The city of Port Angeles may install traffic control signs at the Washington/Georgiana intersection.
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com
