For the Reporter

MultiCare’s new $17.5 million comprehensive family health clinic in Kent is taking shape as the final exterior walls were put into place and secured on May 24 with a beam commemoratively signed by community members along with past and present MultiCare employees.

The new clinic will replace its current facility on State Avenue North.

“This is a monumental place for us and a huge re-investment in the community,” says Karen Graham, administrator of MultiCare Medical Associates clinic operations. “This has been a vision and a goal and something that MultiCare is vested in, and the city of Kent has really helped support us as well.”

Mayor Dana Ralph also attended the event, along with Kent’s Chief Administrative Officer, Derek Matheson.

The new 36,000-square-foot clinic is being built by Abbott Construction and is across the street from the current facility on State Avenue. It will expand spaces for primary care, women’s health, occupational medicine and urgent care. It will also house a new retail pharmacy.

The exterior walls are built with a “tilt-up” construction method known for efficiency, safety, durability and faster construction times as the facility races toward an early 2019 opening day target.

In 2014, a study determined that the older building, which dates to the 1950s, would require significant investment in the coming years. To support the rapidly growing community, MultiCare leadership determined that the best long-term approach would be to invest in an all-new facility designed to improve work flows and efficiency for patient care, while also leveraging modern design to reduce facility operating costs. This ground-up also eliminates any disruptions to care that upgrading the old facility would have caused.

The current clinic, which is located on the same property as the new building, will remain open until the new one opens. The old building will then be demolished to provide additional parking at the new facility.