Jordan Valley Community Health Center gets approval to expand

Last edited 4:16 p.m., June 27, 2013

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has given its stamp of approval allowing Jordan Valley Community Health Center to expand its 440 E. Tampa St. campus.

The $8.4 million project comprises a renovation of a 20,000-square-foot building attached to Jordan Valley's main campus, as well as a 20,000-square-foot addition incorporating property adjacent to the facility purchased from Greene County in June 2012. Originally, the health center had planned a 30,300-square-foot facility across the street from its main building, according to a news release.

Jordan Valley President and CEO Brooks Miller said the health center decided not to follow the original plan because it would have taken away the facility's primary parking lot and inconvenienced patients. He noted it also made sense to purchase the property from Greene County.

The project is funded by a May 2012 $5 million grant from the HHS. The remaining balance, Miller said, is funded by bonds purchased by Commerce Bank. Because the project is funded largely by the HHS, the government body needed to approved the changed building plans.

“We are pleased to announce that with the purchase of space from Greene County and approval from our grantor, we are moving ahead with a revised construction plan that will utilize existing structures and move more services under one roof, which will improve access for patients and increase efficiency for medical and dental staff," Miller said in the release. "This building project will allow Jordan Valley to keep pace with emerging community needs and help provide the traditionally underserved with a health care home."

Construction is slated to begin in July and finish in October 2014. Butler, Rosenbury & Partners Inc. is serving as project architect, with St. Louis-based Alberici Corp. working as construction manager.

Phase one of the projects calls for an adult primary care center, pain management clinic and open access urgent care with a pharmacy, lab and X-ray services. Phase two would remodel the lower level of the existing building to allow oral health services to be under one roof instead of two buildings, and it would expand the upper level of the building to provide more space for pediatric and women's health services, the release said.[[In-content Ad]]