Providence’s new Colby hospital tower to open early

  • By Sharon Salyer Herald Writer
  • Sunday, January 2, 2011 12:01am
  • Local News

The new 12-story medical tower at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett is now expected to open two months ahead of schedule, on June 14.

And the final cost of the project, $460 million, is about $40 million less than originally estimated, said Dave Brooks, the hospital’s chief executive

.

The U-shaped building with the glass exterior tops out at 197 feet, one of the tallest on Everett’s skyline.

“It will be more contemporary and prettier, certainly,” Brooks said.

“At the same time it’s going to be better care,” he said, through such steps as more advanced infection control, more privacy and more single rooms.

The public will get its first chances to tour the building during open houses scheduled for June 11 and 12.

“Everybody’s asking, ‘When is it opening?’ ” Brooks said. “It’s such a massive project, and it’s taken so long to design and build. That’s created an excitement, but also at times a frustration. We want to bring this to the community now.”

Brooks joined the hospital in 2004 and has overseen much of its planning.

Construction on the 700,000-square-foot medical tower began in October 2008. The new building is located next to the current hospital at 1321 Colby Ave.

It will include an estimated $25 million in high-tech diagnostic and imaging equipment, such as high-definition CT scanners, MRI machines, and smaller, lighter, X-ray machines.

Overall, the new building is designed to be more “family friendly,” so loved ones can participate more in recovery and care-giving, Brooks said.

The tower will open with 240 in-patient rooms, with space to expand to a maximum of 368.

Each room with have pull-out couches for family members. Floors designated for in-patient treatment will have family lounges with Internet access and kitchens.

Patient rooms are designed so that nurses and other medical staff will have a window to look in on patients without disturbing them, Brooks said.

The hospital’s emergency room, already one of the state’s busiest, will be able to treat up to 150,000 patients a year in its new quarters in the medical tower’s ground floor.

The size of the new emergency department will likely come as a surprise to anyone who has been treated at the hospital’s current cramped quarters. Its 55,870 square feet is equivalent in size to three National Hockey League ice rinks.

It will have 79 treatment areas, an increase from the current 52 treatment areas at the emergency rooms at its Colby and Pacific campuses. The new space should significantly cut the wait time for nontrauma patients from its current three hours.

Patients will get a quick initial check of their condition and then be sent to a treatment room, said Cheri Russum, hospital spokeswoman.

After the new emergency department opens, the two current emergency rooms will close. The Colby campus’ emergency department is scheduled to close the day the new tower opens. The other emergency room at 916 Pacific Ave. will close a few days later, on June 16.

It’s a change hospital officials would like the public to start getting ready for now. “We don’t want people to have an extra stop on the way to the emergency department,” Brooks said.

One part of the building that has received little attention so far is its 14,000-square-foot rooftop garden, located on the fourth floor. Although there will be no public access to the garden, it will allow patients and their families to have a view of trees, grass and flowers.

“It was a choice we had to make rather than just a rooftop,” Brooks said. “Besides being earth-friendly … it looks wonderful. I’m glad we did it.”

Some public areas of the current Colby Avenue hospital will continue to be used, connected to the new building through temporary walkways.

These include the cafeteria, gift shop and chapel. They will move to new quarters about six to eight months after the medical tower opens, Brooks said.

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

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Students from Explorer Middle School gather Wednesday around a makeshift memorial for Emiliano “Emi” Munoz, who died Monday, May 5, after an electric bicycle accident in south Everett. (Aspen Anderson / The Herald)
Community and classmates mourn death of 13-year-old in bicycle accident

Emiliano “Emi” Munoz died from his injuries three days after colliding with a braided cable.

Danny Burgess, left, and Sandy Weakland, right, carefully pull out benthic organisms from sediment samples on Thursday, May 1, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
‘Got Mud?’ Researchers monitor the health of the Puget Sound

For the next few weeks, the state’s marine monitoring team will collect sediment and organism samples across Puget Sound

Everett postal workers gather for a portrait to advertise the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Snohomish County letter carriers prepare for food drive this Saturday

The largest single-day food drive in the country comes at an uncertain time for federal food bank funding.

Everett
Everett considers ordinance to require more apprentice labor

It would require apprentices to work 15% of the total labor hours for construction or renovation on most city projects over $1 million.

Snohomish County prosecutor Kara Van Slyck delivers closing statement during the trial of Christian Sayre at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Thursday, May 8, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Jury deliberations begin in the fourth trial of former Everett bar owner

Jury members deliberated for about 2 hours before Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Millie Judge sent them home until Monday.

Christian Sayre sits in the courtroom before the start of jury selection on Tuesday, April 29, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Christian Sayre timeline

FEBRUARY 2020 A woman reports a sexual assault by Sayre. Her sexual… Continue reading

Marysville
Marysville talks middle housing at open house

City planning staff say they want a ‘soft landing’ to limit the impacts of new state housing laws. But they don’t expect their approach to slow development.

Smoke from the Bolt Creek fire silhouettes a mountain ridge and trees just outside of Index on Sept. 12, 2022. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County will host two wildfire-preparedness meetings in May

Meetings will allow community members to learn wildfire mitigation strategies and connect with a variety of local and state agencies.

A speed limiter device, like this one, will be required for repeat speeding offenders under a Washington law signed on May 12, 2025. The law doesn’t take effect until 2029. (Photo by Jake Goldstein-Street/Washington State Standard)
Washington to rein in fast drivers with speed limiters

A new law set to take effect in 2029 will require repeat speeding offenders to install the devices in their vehicles.

Commuters from Whidbey Island disembark their vehicles from the ferry Tokitae on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018 in Mukilteo, Wa.  (Andy Bronson / The Herald)
Bids for five new hybrid ferries come in high

It’s raising doubts about the state’s plans to construct up to five new hybrid-electric vessels with the $1.3 billion lawmakers have set aside.

City of Everett Engineer Tom Hood, left, and City of Everett Engineer and Project Manager Dan Enrico, right, talks about the current Edgewater Bridge demolition on Friday, May 9, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
How do you get rid of a bridge? Everett engineers can explain.

Workers began dismantling the old Edgewater Bridge on May 2. The process could take one to two months, city engineers said.

Christian Sayre walks out of the courtroom in handcuffs after being found guilty on two counts of indecent liberties at the end of his trial at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Monday, May 12, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Former bar owner convicted on two of three counts of sexual abuse

A jury deliberated for about 8 hours before returning guilty verdicts on two charges of indecent liberties Monday.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.