Denver-based DaVita Inc. has started a $1.3 million renovation project to convert a portion of a retail building at 7701 N. Division into a dialysis and kidney care clinic where DaVita plans to move its North Side clinic, says Kristin Videto, a Federal Way, Wash.-based project manager for DaVita.

The project site includes 10,400 square feet of space in the south portion of a two-tenant building, also occupied by a Video Only home electronics store.

The DaVita North Spokane Renal Center currently is located in smaller quarters in the Ironwood Center office complex, at 7407 N. Division.

The clinic will include 16 treatment stations, four training rooms, office space, and other tenant improvements, the application for a recently issued building permit says.

“We’re just getting a little bit bigger site,” Videto says. “We’re pretty crammed in the space we have now.”

DaVita’s current North Side clinic operates with a staff of 15 employees, she says.

“Were hoping in the future to add capacity,” she says, adding that state approval would be required for DaVita to expand services there.

Axiom Northwest Construction Inc., of Everett, is the contractor on the project, and Randall Dover Architect, of Nashville, designed it.

DaVita also operates the Downtown Spokane Renal Center, on the main floor of the Spokane Integrated Medical Services Plaza at 601 W. Fifth, and the Spokane Valley Renal Center, in the Pinecroft Business Park, at 12610 E. Indiana.

DaVita provides renal services at more than 2,300 outpatient dialysis centers, serving nearly 200,000 patients in the U.S., the company’s website says.

The company also operates 139 outpatient dialysis centers in 11 other countries.

HealthCare Partners, a DaVita subsidiary, operates medical groups and physician networks in western Washington and five other states, providing integrated care management for 750,000 patients.

DaVita, which comes from the Italian words for “giving life,” and its subsidiaries have 67,000 employees, and the company is reporting strong growth.

In a recent earnings statement, DaVita reported net income of $612.2 million, or $2.76 per diluted share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from $261.3 million, or $1 a share, for the year-earlier quarter.