Major medical on Mullan

POST FALLS — Just as one major medical expansion project in Post Falls opens, another one is announced.

That's the situation with Post Falls' booming medical corridor as Kootenai Health on Thursday announced a $10.5 million, two-story, 22,000-square foot expansion project for its existing campus at 1300 E. Mullan Ave.

"Post Falls is growing and so are we," said Jeremy Evans, Kootenai Health's vice president of operations. "With our new expansion at the Kootenai Health campus in Post Falls, we will be able to provide even better multi-specialty coordinated care for our patients.

"Physician office space is at a premium. Post Falls is a key market because it's one of the fastest-growing ZIP codes in Idaho. We want to be able to provide the services people need."

Meanwhile, NISHB (North Idaho Surgical Hospital Building, LLC), a group of area medical professionals, boasts its own major medical expansion with the recently-opened first building of the Tamarack Medical Plaza at the northeast corner of Mullan and Syringa Street. The plaza will be the home of three medical office buildings — a $3.4 million project.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at 12:15 p.m. today at the facility.

"There's only one direction for growth to go — and it's between Coeur d'Alene and Spokane," said Darron Rock, NISHB spokesman and Northwest Specialty Hospital marketing director, referring to why Post Falls is a hot location for medical expansions. "We believe there's room for everyone to grow. We're trying to accommodate for the growth that's occurring in the local area."

Construction on Kootenai Health's project is expected to start in early November and take 12 to 15 months to complete.

It will create more than 75 construction jobs and 20 new permanent medical positions, a Kootenai Health press release states.

"The expansion will … provide new space for additional clinic locations and ancillary services to better care for our patients," the press release states.

The expansion will include physician office space and ancillary services, including laboratory, radiology, a retail pharmacy and a food and coffee area.

"This is a story that supports our ongoing story to develop into a regional medical center to keep patients in Idaho," Evans said.

Kootenai Health has had a presence in Post Falls since 1996.

The Post Falls expansion comes on the heels of the company's $57 million expansion of its Coeur d'Alene campus.

NISHB, which also owns the Northwest Specialty Hospital building and property, owns 14 properties in Post Falls.

The first tenants in the two-story, 17,000-square-foot Tamarack Medical Plaza built by Young Construction are Olscamp Orthopedics and Northwest Occupational Medicine. Negotiations with possible other tenants are ongoing, Rock said.

The medical plaza, which sits on a 4.2-acre site, complements the medical campus on the south side of Mullan that includes Northwest Specialty Hospital and two medical office buildings.

Medical Oncology Associates is also building a facility on Syringa. That building is expected to be completed in mid-January.