Everett Clinic expanding to Smokey Point

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, July 27, 2011

SMOKEY POINT — Construction has begun on The Everett Clinic’s new $24 million medical building, scheduled to open in September 2012.

The two-story, 59,000-square-foot building is on a 3.8-acre site at 2901 174th St NE. It is north of Costco and west of I-5.

The clinic, called the Smokey Point Medical Center, is being constructed so that its interior walls can be easily moved to accommodate changing needs, said April Zepeda, spokeswoman for The Everett Clinic.

“If one department is getting more patients, we can make it bigger really easily,” she said.

Exam rooms are being designed to provide more patient privacy. Offices for medical staff are arranged so patients hear fewer ringing phones, she said.

Patients provided suggestions on things they would like to see in the new building, such as bathrooms located closer to exam rooms. This is a convenience both for people involved in some medical tests as well as patients with children, she said.

Some basic tests, such as blood draws, will be conducted in the exam rooms rather than sending patients to another part of the building, Zepeda said.

Check-ins for the medical appointments can be done electronically to reduce wait times.

The medical center will be the organization’s largest offering of medical specialty services outside its main offices in Everett.

They include orthopedics, podiatry, physical therapy, gastroenterology, allergists and specialists in ear, nose and throat problems.

JR Abbott, of Seattle, is the general contractor. The building was designed by ZGF, the same architectural firm that designed Providence Regional Medical Center Everett’s new $460 million medical tower, which opened in June.

Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.