A new Community Health Association of Spokane clinic is planned in Spokane’s Chief Garry Park neighborhood, next to a new Crosswalk youth shelter proposed by Volunteers of America Eastern Washington & Northern Idaho.

Both new construction projects will be located on a 1.4-acre vacant lot on the 3000 block of East Mission Avenue, which is about three blocks southwest of the Spokane Community College campus and two blocks east of Chief Garry Park.

Cheryl Cervantes, vice president of facilities at CHAS Health, says the proposed clinic will offer medical, behavioral health, and pharmacy services. As with other CHAS Health clinics, it will serve anyone regardless of their ability to pay.

The medical clinic is anticipated to cost about $4 million to construct, Cervantes says.

The project will be funded partially through a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration, with the remainder to be funded by CHAS Health, she says.

A building permit application for a one-story, 8,400-square-foot structure is under review by the city of Spokane.

Once approved, CHAS Health anticipates construction of the medical clinic will begin in early spring and take up to nine months to complete, Cervantes says.

Design plans for the clinic include 11 exam rooms, each about 140 square feet in size.

Cervantes says, “Each exam room will have the ability to flex between the needs to provide behavioral health services or primary care services.”

The site will have about 32 parking spaces, including four parking spaces dedicated to electric vehicle charging.

Cervantes says she expects a decision to select a general contractor for the project this spring. ALSC Architects PS, of Spokane, designed the building.

About 25 employees will work at the Mission clinic, and Cervantes says CHAS Health will need to hire some new employees and transfer internal staff to staff it.

Rae-Lynn Barden, marketing and communications director at VOA, says the property will have more green space than the current Crosswalk facility at 525 W. Second, in downtown Spokane. 

“The kids will actually have a lawn to enjoy, and we’re hoping to have a basketball court,” says Barden.

As previously reported in the Journal, the Crosswalk project calls for the construction of a three-story, 45,000-square-foot building with a total of 36 shelter beds.

“Due to licensing, we’ll still keep the same shelter bed capacity, which is 18 beds, and then dorm-style apartments above,” Barden says. “The building isn’t going to be scaled back on people served at all.”

Architecture All Forms Corp., of Spokane, is designing the shelter. Inland Construction & Development Co., also of Spokane, is the contractor.

She says VOA is working on a building permit application.

“The CHAS clinic is a little further along,” Barden says. “We hope to have shovels in the ground in October for the Crosswalk building. We’re finishing up some last-minute funding due to inflation, so we need to close a bit of a funding gap and then break ground this fall.” 

The estimated construction cost of the Crosswalk shelter is $16.1 million, which is about $2 million more than the initial cost estimate due to inflation, she says.

State funds, private donations, and state Building Communities Fund allocations provided $8 million for the project, and $7 million in funding was secured through private grants and foundations, according to VOA project information.

“We already did a capital campaign last year and raised $1 million,” Barden says, adding that the organization also has applied to the city of Spokane Valley for American Rescue Plan Act funds. About 16% of youths served by VOA here are from Spokane Valley, she explains.

Barden says VOA hopes to close the gap with additional funding from private foundations.

Once permitting is approved, the shelter construction will take about 1 1/2 years to complete, Barden says.

“We’ll probably be open in the summer of 2024,” she says.

The downtown Crosswalk facility will be put up for sale within about a year, and proceeds will help fund the new development, explains Barden.