Northwest Specialty Hospital is erecting an ambulatory surgery center at its Post Falls campus.

The project site is at 1624 E. Mullan, directly east of the main hospital on Polston Avenue.

Anna Rouse, community liaison for Northwest Specialty Hospital, says the new center is expected to open in July.

Rouse declines to disclose the cost of the facility. However, Post Falls building permit information shows the 9,000-square-foot building has a construction value of $6 million.

Rick Rassmussen, CEO of Northwest Specialty Hospital, earlier told the Journal of Business that the center will focus on orthopedic and spinal procedures, including hip, knee, foot, and ankle operations.

The contractor for the project is StanCraft Construction Group, of Hayden, and Denver-based health care architecture and consulting company Marasco & Associates Inc. designed it.

The project will include two outpatient operating rooms and space for patient recovery and pre-operation procedures. It is designed to add two operating rooms as the need arises in the future.

The new ambulatory surgery center is a partnership between Northwest Specialty Hospital and several other medical practices, including Orthopedic Surgery & Sports Medicine Clinic PLLC, Inland Northwest Spine PLLC, and Dewing Sports Orthopedic Surgery PC.

Northwest Specialty Hospital also operates two urgent care centers, one at 750 Syringa on the Post Falls medical campus, and the other opened recently at 7173 E. Super 1 Loop, in the Athol Crossing retail development in north Kootenai County.

The organization has 277 physicians and 577 full-time equivalent employees as of February, and the ambulatory center is expected to generate 15 additional staff positions.

Northwest Specialty Hospital opened in 2002 with four operating rooms. Since then, it has added eight operating rooms in two expansions.

Looking ahead, Northwest Specialty Hospital also plans at some point to build an ambulatory surgery center in Liberty Lake on land it owns at 21701 E. Country Vista Drive, just off Interstate 90, near the Home Depot store. That center, which would handle neuro, orthopedic, and multiple specialty surgeries, would be the physician-owned practice's first venture into Washington.