Overlake Submits for New $200M Hospital

ISSAQUAH, WA-Officials with Bellevue-based Overlake Hospital Medical Center this week applied to the state for approval of a new 120-bed, $203-million hospital here that it says it needs to accommodate growth in the community. Submitted to the state Department of Health, the so-called ‘Certificate of Need’ application comes on the heels of a similar application from Seattle-based Swedish Medical Center. Overlake is seeking approval for a 215,000-sf, four-story hospital at 6520 226th Place SE, which is an existing Overlake medical property off East Sammamish Lake Parkway near Interstate 90. In June, Swedish Medical submitted its ‘CON’ application for a new $197-million, 175-bed hospital on one of two sites it has optioned here. The preferred parcel is a 15-acre lot located in the Issaquah Highlands on the east side of Highland Drive that is owned by Port Blakely. The first alternate is the 30-acre Issaquah Gateway parcel at the northeast corner of SE Newport Way, north of Oakcrest Drive, which is owned by a local family. “In their view, they are probably competing,” Karen Nidermayer, a Certificate of Need analyst with the state Department of Health tells GlobeSt.com. “In our view, it’s a little too early to tell right now whether there is room for two more hospitals in Issaquah.” Overlake says its 120-bed hospital would be implemented in two phases, with 86 beds in 2009 and the remaining 34 beds added in 2015. The Swedish proposal also calls for two phases, with 80 acute-care beds available in January 2009, with 40 more would added in 2012 and the final 55 coming online in 2016. In the meantime, Swedish has negotiated a 20-year lease for a 55,000-sf building at 2005 NW Sammamish Rd. along the I-90 Corridor in Issaquah that it will convert into a freestanding emergency room, imaging center with second-story office and lab space. The plan is for Swedish to take control of the property in September and open the facility in February 2005. Swedish VP Kevin Brown tells GlobeSt.com that Swedish expects to spend about $18 million to build-out the space. Swedish says that more than 12% of Eastsiders requiring medical care now travel to its hospitals in Seattle. “It would be much more convenient for them–-and others-–to be treated closer to home,” Brown told GlobeSt.com in June. “In addition, Swedish already operates two primary-care clinics and a number of specialty clinics at Eastside locations, including Bellevue/Crossroads, Factoria and Pine Lake.” Overlake, which operates a 337-bed level-three trauma center in Bellevue, is currently the closest major hospital to the growing residential centers in Issaquah and Sammamish. In a prepared statement, Overlake president Ken Graham says “in order to meet the health demands of the growing communities, it is logical to add capacity in Issaquah and Sammamish where close to 20% of our patients reside.” Nidermayer says the state could approve both, deny both, approve one and not the other or approve smaller facilities for both. A CON application review typically takes about six months but, with competing applications, the process could take as long as nine months, she says.