'The work really now begins'

MOSES LAKE — The dirt won’t be flying for a while, but the work will ramp up on the construction of the new Samaritan Hospital.

“The work really now begins,” said Chief Administrative Officer Alex Town.

Voters are approving a $130 million construction bond proposal submitted to them in a special election Tuesday. In updated results released Thursday, the proposal has 5,545 yes votes to 2,866 no votes, 65.93% of participating voters approving. Because it was a revenue measure, the bond required 60% approval to pass.

The bond has a 30-year payback provision.

The election will be certified May 5, according to the Grant County Auditor’s Office website. About 50 votes remain to be counted.

The project was first approved in 2018, and Commissioner Dale Paris said the groundbreaking was scheduled for summer 2020.

“It was (scheduled for) June 9, I remember that,” Paris said.

But the COVID-19 pandemic forced the project to be shut down.

“We were going to break ground in 2020,” said Chief Executive Officer Theresa Sullivan. “Then we were going to break ground in 2022.”

“And now we’re hoping to truly break ground this fall,” Town said.

With the bond’s passage, Samaritan officials will be meeting with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has approved a $136 million loan for the project.

“They were waiting to see whether the bond passed or not, so we need to work with them on getting the financing finalized,” Sullivan said.

Commissioners hired the Seattle architectural firm of ZGF to design the building, which was completed in 2019. The design was submitted to and approved by the USDA; as a result, any changes would have to be approved by the USDA, Sullivan said.

Commissioners also hired a general contractor, Graham Construction, Spokane. The architects and contractors have been working on the project periodically, Sullivan said, but now that work will speed up.

Once the USDA financing is finalized, hospital officials will work on establishing an estimated project cost, called a “guaranteed maximum price.” It’s the maximum the contractor can bill for the project and also is called a “not to exceed” contract.

Joe Kunkel, the consultant working with Samaritan on the project, estimated in January that the project will cost about $225 million, if construction starts this year.

Sullivan said the hospital will need to contribute upfront money to the project, making up the difference between the USDA loans and the total project cost. She estimated that would be about $100 million.

“Samaritan covers the other $100 million, either through equity contributions, or through payment on the loan,” Sullivan said.

The project was awarded $8.4 million in the 2023-24 capital budget, and hospital officials are seeking federal funding for the project also.

Sullivan compared the financing to a mortgage, and said the bond money will be used to pay back the loans.

“The way we pay the (loans back) is through Samaritan operations and through the money from the bond,” she said.

The USDA will require Samaritan to have a certificate of occupancy within five years of the loan approval, which would mean September 2026.

“Because of the timing of that, if we move on schedule the spring of 2026 is the grand opening,” Town said. “That doesn’t give you much leeway.”

“I think the bigger thing is, we need to get moving right now,” Sullivan said. “Just as we’ve been telling folks, we are out of space, we don’t want costs to go up more, we need to move now.”

Paris expressed gratitude to district voters and the committee that worked on the bond proposal.

“The board really laid down a tough ask,” he said.

The bond proposal is a lot of money, he said, and the committee members were asked to come up with an information campaign in about a month for the April election.

“It was a big ask and everybody stepped up,” he said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.