New psychiatric hospital marks construction milestone

Spokane’s new psychiatric hospital took a step toward completion Friday as workers celebrated the “topping off” of the steel outline.

Iron workers, other construction workers and staff from Providence Health Services watched as the final beam for the three-story structure was hoisted into place.

As is tradition, it was capped with a small evergreen tree, a tradition thought to date back to Scandinavia more than a millennium ago.

The new hospital, scheduled to open next fall, will have beds for 100 psychiatric patients. It’s a joint venture between Providence, which provided the land, and Fairfax Behavioral Health, which will operate the hospital.

The beam, painted white, was signed on one side by workers, and the other by kids from St. Anne’s Children and Family Center, which sits kitty-corner from the construction site on West Fifth Avenue.

Bill Bouten, president of Bouten Construction, said students from the center had eagerly watched the demolition of the former Providence Family Medicine building on the site and the early construction work.

Earlier Friday, he said he saw a young girl parting the bushes at the day care to watch iron workers finish the structure.

“I thought, ‘There is a future construction worker, that’s one of our gals,’ ” Bouten said to the assembled workers.

Alex Herr, director of real estate and construction for Providence in Eastern Washington and Montana, said the new hospital would allow Providence to deliver badly needed mental health care.

“This is a major milestone for us,” he said.