Bonner General Hospital, in Sandpoint, says it has bought a 2-acre lot in the heart of the North Idaho city's downtown and plans to expand there.

The parcel formerly was owned and occupied by Taylor-Parker Motor Co., now Taylor & Sons Chevrolet. The dealership vacated the lot when it moved a few miles north to Ponderay early this year. The terms of the sale weren't disclosed.

The lot takes an entire city block bordered by West Alder Street to the north, North Fourth Avenue to the west, West Cedar Street to the south, and North Third Avenue to the east. That block is just southwest of the hospital, which is on the west bank of Sand Creek.

Tarah Neujahr, Bonner General's marketing and communications manager, says the hospital has hired the Seattle office of Hammes Co., a Brookfield, Wis.-based health-care consultant and facility developer, to study how best to use the property.

"We're working with the firm to help decide priorities," Neujahr says. She expects Hammes will submit its findings and recommendations to the hospital this fall or winter.

Bonner General, an acute-care hospital licensed for 48 beds, currently is housed in a 48,300-square-foot, three-floor building, where it performs a range of surgery, imaging, physical therapy, and other medical services, she says.

The hospital's accounting, business, home health, and hospice services are housed in other buildings near the hospital, she says.

Nonetheless, the hospital needs more room, Neujahr says.

"As our community grows, we're having to adapt and expand services," she says.

The hospital employs more than 400 people, and 75 physicians have privileges there.

In 2010, the hospital admitted almost 2,200 patients, had about 8,500 emergency department visits, and had about 55,100 outpatient visits, Neujahr says. The patient numbers this year are on pace to be roughly level with or higher than last year, she says.

Bonner General serves a population base of more than 57,000 people in Bonner and Boundary counties in North Idaho and a portion of Western Montana, Neujahr says.

The hospital's envisioned expansion to the Third Street block falls in line with a downtown revitalization plan that the Sandpoint Urban Renewal Agency is carrying out with support from the Downtown Sandpoint Business Association.

The association has encouraged Bonner General to expand into the downtown area and become a medical anchor there. The association and the urban renewal agency also hope to attract retail and education anchors downtown to increase the diversity of goods and services available there.

Bonner General Hospital incorporated in 1949. The original hospital facility was housed in a wooden single-story military infirmary building that was transported by barge to the hospital's Sand Creek property from the decommissioned Farragut Naval Training Station near Bayview, on the south end of Lake Pend Oreille.

The original portion of its current building was constructed in 1972. The hospital since has been expanded at least three times, Neujahr says.