The Expansion

Humboldt General Hospital has broken ground on a 35,860-square-foot expansion that will see the addition of a medical office building to the front of the existing hospital structure as well as a smaller expansion of some departments.

In all, eight medical office suites will be added to the new first- and second-story space that will offer a central reception and scheduling area. The impressive new addition to the hospital campus will be constructed of glass, brick and steel, offering a contemporary feel that will blend nicely with all previous hospital construction.

Kendall Street will be permanently closed to allow for additional patient parking beyond the Ambulance Station and Kendall Street storage building. The vacant lot across from the Ambulance Station also will be converted to parking. Additionally, the Heliport will be relocated to a site between Haskell Street and the railroad, allowing for even more parking as well as increased patient safety. 

As part of the expansion, all existing parking lots will be completely reconstructed, allowing for more functional access from the street. Professionally designed landscaping will complete the hospital's new and inviting appearance.

In addition to the construction of the new Medical Office Building, other departments will see some expansion and improvements as well. 

• Our Emergency Department may still be accessed from Mizpah Street.  However, it will now connect to the new physician clinics as well as the hospital's administrative offices with its own enclosed lobby. This much-improved emergency waiting area will serve our community well into the future.
• Our very active maintenance staff will be relocating to a currently underutilized existing metal building at the intersection of Harmony and Kendall streets.  This will provide much needed shop and office space for this group.
• Our Information Technology personnel will be relocating into half of our existing MOB-2 building. This modular structure will provide highly flexible space for training and maintenance of the hospital's software and hardware systems. Plus, its central location within our campus will help provide more efficient monitoring of our security system. The other half of the building will house conference rooms.
• Our Purchasing Department has been congested for many years.  This project will keep that valuable function in its current location while providing needed additional space, thus allowing for timely and efficient distribution of supplies to both our clinic and hospital.
• Our Harmony Street storage building will be reconditioned into a staff Wellness Facility.
• Our patient focused improvements also will provide for consolidated and easy access to our Administration, Business, Human Resources, and Medical Records personnel.

All parking areas will see completion by late 2010. The new Medical Office Building will be complete by April 2011, while the smaller departmental expansions and improvements will see completion by October 2011.

Project Stats

* Qualifies under NVEnergy Solar Generations Incentive Program as a Public Building. Reimbursed up to $4.60 per watt of installed capacity up to a maximum level of 30 kW.

Financing the Expansion

The current expansion will be paid for with cash. The hospital will not secure any debt financing to fund this project.

A Great Time to Build

This is a great time to build. Construction costs are down due to a slumping national economy and healthcare in particular has been hard hit. If there ever was a perfect time to build, now is that time! Hospital/clinic construction starts for January-February 2010 were off 13.7 percent from the first two months of 2009. Additionally, the total value of starts is expected to be steady to slightly down in mid-2010 while rising slowly later in the year. Also, commercial building construction costs have fallen 10 percent during the past year (2009). Construction companies are hungry and bids for the current hospital expansion prove it. Architectural estimates indicated that the base bid for the hospital expansion would come in around $10.8 million with the five bid alternates adding an additional $980,000. Instead, the low bidder, R&O Construction, came in at just over $9.4 million for the entire project, including alternates. It's a great time to build!