Development
Sunday, July 17, 2011
A Star-Herald Publication
Building pace increasing in Scottsbluff By RICK WILLIS Staff Reporter
Photo by Roger Holsinger
In what used to be the children’s portion of the old library now houses a large meeting room that will also serve as the location for the Scottsbluff City Council meetings. The room has been renamed the Jane and Chet Fliesbach Community Room.
Scottsbluff library dream of expansion realized By ROGER HOLSINGER Assistant Editor
Seven years of blood, sweat and even a few tears has provided Scottsbluff with a showcase. While there were a few delays in completing the remodeling and addition of the Lied Scottsbluff Public Librar y, the $4.2 million project is something to be proud of, according to Director Bev Russell. Of the total cost of the project, $2.2 million came from donations and grants. The fundraising started with $500,000 from the Peter Kiewit Challenge Grant followed by $100,000 from the Ethel S. Abbott Charitable Trust; $500,000 from the City of Scottsbluff, and $600,000 from the Lied Foundation Trust. Funding also came in from children, adults and members of the community, including a $100,000 donation from the late Chet Fliesbach. Russell said the large meeting room would be named the Jane and Chet Fliesbach Community Room in honor of the couple. The room will ser ve as the meeting location for Scottsbluff City Council meetings beginning July 18. On June 21, the librar y was officially dedicated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and on July 10, the Robert W. Furnas Lodge 265 A.F. & A.M., in cooperation with the City of Scottsbluff and the Lied Scottsbluff Public Librar y, placed a cornerstone on the newly remodeled and expanded building. Construction began in Februar y 2010 with the excavation of the east end of the property that would soon be the new children’s librar y. The
Photos by Roger Holsinger
ABOVE: Prior to the remodeling of the existing library, the northwest corner of the facility in December looked a little rough. BELOW: However, five months later the corner is completed and known as the quiet reading area. Deneen Landers donated the fireplace to the library.
See LIBRARY, page 2
Scottsbluff is experiencing an upswing in construction activity, and the spike involves more than the expansion of Regional West Medical Center. All categories have increased and Gary Batt, a code administrator for the City of Scottsbluff, said the last time he saw this type of activity was in the early 2000s. “It’s been a long time, three or four years, since before the bottom,” Batt said. Batt said that construction tends to be cyclical. “We had Albertson’s, Home Depot and then Walmart starting in 2000,” Batt said. “It seems funny to see people putting things up again. They must be pretty sure they’ll get a return for their effort.” Batt said three spec homes have been built and sold in the past few months. Spec homes are houses built by a contractor without a homeowner contract at the start of the project. In a down economy, spec homes are more of a financial risk for a builder. Batt said several homes in Scottsbluff have been custom built as well. While numbers remain the comparable — eight residential permits issued this year and 2010 for $1.4 million — there were only five permits through June 2009, a rough time in the economy, with a combined value of $314,000. There are also 54 fence permits so far this year compared to only 43 last year. June had 55 roofing permits pulled compared to 106 at year-to-date in 2010. The majority of those might be attributed to the last year’s spring storms. In 2009, however, there were just 43 residential permits issued for all categories or repair, the same category as roofing. This year there were 130 such permits — a three-fold increase. Heavy constr uction leads the way. Contractors
at Regional West Medical Center are continuing to pull building permits and kick up a lot of dirt as the hospital expansion continues, but other companies are building as well, leading to the spike in commercial construction in Scottsbluff. Commercial repair or remodel building permits through June are running $3.6 million ahead of last year, the largest part of that coming from the hospital construction. To cope with the additional work, the city has hired Sheila Hort as a code administrator. For larger projects, depending on the materials used, special inspectors have to be used because Scottsbluff just doesn’t have the employees to stay on site, Batt said. Year-to-date there are eight new commercial construction projects with a value of more than $1.5 million, versus none for the same period in 2010. Maverick’s gas station and convenience store accounts for $900,000 of that number. As with any construction project, the code administrators bear the brunt of frustration when contractors or architects miss something in their plans. The officials are there to ensure the contractors are doing what they are supposed to do. Batt said that most contractors will work with the city when the codes can be spelled out from the code book. The rules give minimum rules that provide for the safety, sanitation, structural strength, light, ventilation and protection from fire and other hazards. The International Residential Codes standards book is about two inches think. He pointed out that he has two other two-inch thick books as well. Those books interpret the rules in the codebook. “Sometimes you have to be the bad guy,” Batt said. “Contractors are open for suggestions. When you can quote from the book, they comply.”
Three major projects under way on Regional West campus By MAUNETTE LOEKS Staff Reporter
Construction activity at Regional West Medical Center has been building. Currently, three construction projects are under way at the regional hospital. Regional West is also in the second phase of expanding its St. Mary Plaza, a $2.8 million project. The second phase of the project entails remodeling and reconstruction in the west wing and central core area of the hospital. The expansion will create new spaces for the community health and American Red Cross, which will continue to be located on the ground floor of the hospital. For hospital operations, a library and patient access services, which includes billing, scheduling and other areas, have now been housed in the newly renovated areas. About 300 Regional West employees are expected to be moved into the facility once the second phase is completed. It also houses the hospital’s Inn Touch facility, which provides room services to patient families, hospital staff and nursing students. The facility, built in 1947, has
long been a community treasure. “A few years ago, we looked at what to do with the St. Mary Hospital, whether it needed to be updated or torn down,” Regional West Medical Center chief finance officer and vice-president of finance David Griffiths explained. “When comparing to build new, we found that it was just as cost effective to remodel the facility. It is a very well-constructed building and it will probably outlast most of the buildings in the community.” The hospital is trying to preser ve much of the hospital’s charms, but director of facilities John Ferguson said the project brings unique challenges as contractors try to modernize the facility. The project includes asbestos abatement, and each wing has been gutted during the reconstruction effort. The electric services in the facilities are being updated from a 220-volt system to a 480-volt system. Walls in the facility are 18 inches of brick, and windows have also been updated. “It has been a challenge to take care of demolition and bring the facility up to modern code,” Ferguson said. “We always have plen-
ty to do here at the hospital.” A third phase is also planned, which should complete the moving of administration and medical administration functions to the facility. Moving administrative functions to the St. Mary Plaza will allow North and South Plaza space to be used for physician practices. Construction on re-routing Avenue B began in spring and will continue through the summer. The $2.7 million project will allow the hospital to expand its campus. The project is aimed at providing the hospital with room to expand the western end of the current hospital. David Griffiths, vice-president of finance and chief finance officer at Regional West, calls the hospital “landlocked” in its options to expand other directions and the effects on proximity to other services offered within the hospital. Expanding to the south, where the hospital built a new main entrance in recent years, wouldn’t be easy to tie into, Griffiths has said. Expanding to the east would be difficult because of medical office buildings and the north parking lot would be eliminated if the hospital chose to construct on that end. The hospital is focusing on ex-
Photo by Maunette Loeks
The ascent begins for a MRI scanner earlier this week as it is lifted through a skylight at Regional West Medical Center.
panding its surgical and radiology departments, which Griffiths cited as revenue sources for the hospital. “(Expanding to the west) gives us future expansion capacity,” Griffiths said. “We will also see an improvement in employee safety, as we have many employees crossing Avenue B between the hospital and its parking lot. Patient flow will also be improved as we will be able to move the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) back near the emergency room.” This week, part of the Avenue
B project included the relocation of the Apria building. The building is now located south of Regional West Medical Center. The hospital has set its sights on expanding surgical suites to bring them up to current national standards. The need for expansion is driven by advancements in medical technology, with ceiling booms and other equipment updates growing in size, as well as capabilities. See HOSPITAL, page 2