A modern new two-story facility housing a free-standing emergency room is set to go up near the intersection of Oneida Street and Hampden Avenue in southeast Denver.
The project will be only the latest in a booming industry that has seen Colorado become the third largest state in the country in terms of its total number of free-standing emergency rooms.
Such facilities are typically designed to offer hospital emergency-level services in smaller and more convenient neighborhood locations.
The Centennial-based Centura Health says it wants to build a 24,000 square foot facility in a part of Denver currently lacking in emergency care service options.
The building will go up on a 1.6-acre site that was formerly the home of a UMB Bank branch office. That structure has since been demolished.
Centura purchased a portion of the site in late 2017 for $1.9 million and another part of the land last year for $3.3 million.
Centura has additionally purchased a 57-acre site in Colorado Springs in order to build its third hospital in that city. Altogether, the company now has nearly 20 clinics and emergency care facilities in both Colorado and Kansas.
Boulder Associates Architects, which specializes in medical facility work, is the designer for the new Denver Centura facility. Work on the building is expected to begin later this year with an anticipated spring 2020 completion date.
By Garry Boulard