The Spokane Veterans Affairs Medical Center says it has leased 10,000 square feet of floor space in a two-story building on the city's North Side and has moved its administrative staff there to make room for an expansion of services at its hospital in northwest Spokane.

More than 50 administrative employees have moved to the building at 6002 N. Mayfair, and the VA still has room to grow there, says Matthew Allen, the VA's public affairs specialist here.

The VA is looking to add 60 positions, including for physicians, nurses, administrative personnel, and managers, to the staff of 760 at its Spokane hospital, at 4815 N. Assembly, Allen says.

The services it has expanded at the VA Medical Center include optometry, dentistry, urology, neurology, and imaging, he says.

The VA also plans to expand the hospital's pharmacy and centralize its specialty-care services in a 10,000-square-foot addition under construction on the east side of the hospital, Allen says. Specialty-care services include podiatry, dermatology, and care for brain injury, spinal-cord injury, and arthritis.

Other work under way there includes expanding the hospital's cooling system by adding chillers; upgrading the heating and ventilation systems; relocating the hospital driveway; and other infrastructure improvement work, much of which will accommodate the addition.

The building on Mayfair Street is two blocks from Holy Family Hospital, which also provides some services to veterans in collaboration with the VA, Allen says.

James S. Black III, of NAI Black, handled the administrative space lease.