Northwest Eyelid & Orbital Specialists PS, a Spokane-based provider of specialty care and surgical procedures for areas around the eyes, has submitted design plans to the city of Spokane to construct a two-story medical office building east of downtown.

Dr. Kevin Michels, who operates the clinic, emphasizes that the plans are "very tentative" at this point due to the fact the financing hasn't yet been finalized.

Documents filed with the city indicate that the medical practice is proposing to develop the 8,400-square-foot structure at the northwest corner of Hartson Avenue and Sheridan Street, just south of a Cancer Care Northwest PS office.

The city lists the value of the project at $1.2 million.

Spokane-based Leone & Keeble Inc. is listed as the contractor, and Heylman Martin Architects PS, of Spokane, is listed as architect.

City records say Cancer Care Associates LLC owns the half-acre site where the Northwest Eyelid building is proposed to be built. If the project proceeds, the practice, which currently is located at 842 S. Cowley, would move to the newly constructed building to provide expanded services, the documents say.

The practice sees patients three days a week at its current office, and it performs surgeries the other two days at a separate surgical site, says a traffic impact letter on file.

Designs for the new structure call for it to have an operating room, in addition to recovery and exam rooms, for on-site procedures.

Northwest Eyelid practice has one doctor and three employees, the documents say. A website for the practice says the practice offers a range of surgery services, such as for removing excess eyelid skin, treating eyelid droop caused by stretched or detached eyelid muscles, elevating the eyebrows, and repairing eye socket bone fractures.

The website says the practice offers what's called oculoplastic surgery, which it describes as "combining microsurgical techniques of ophthalmology with the aesthetic and reconstructive concepts of plastic surgery."

Documents filed with the city says the proposed medical building would enable the practice to accommodate two new employees.