Avera Health will begin construction this fall on $174 million in health care projects in Sioux Falls, S.D., the city where the system is headquartered.
Avera Health will begin construction this fall on a medical office building and 24-bed surgical hospital on its new Avera on Louise campus in Sioux Falls, S.D., the health system's home city. Those buildings, shown in the foreground, are scheduled to open in 2020. Avera Health said some of the other campus buildings may open in or before 2020, as well.
About 75 percent of the money — roughly $134 million — will be spent for a new health campus, located on about 80 acres of land in a high-visibility area off an interstate at 69th Street and Louise Avenue. The new Avera on Louise campus is about 5 miles southwest of the flagship Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center campus. That main campus also will undergo renovations, including improved surgical spaces and an expanded intensive care unit, according to information from the system.
The Avera on Louise campus will include 260,000 square feet of building space, with a 24-bed surgical hospital. The complex will include facilities for orthopedics, gastroenterology, rheumatology and internal medicine services, said David Flicek. He is chief administrative officer for Avera Medical Group, which includes over a thousand physicians and advanced practice providers across South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska.
Buildings on the new campus will be connected by a multistory common space with a chapel, dining options and a gift shop, the system said in an April 12 news release.
Flicek said the health care system assessed the needs of the region, which has both a growing and aging population and determined that expansion at the new health campus made strategic sense. For instance, Avera Health in Sioux Falls has expanded significantly in gastroenterology and into orthopedics, Flicek said, with seven additional orthopedic physicians recruited to work with Avera in the Sioux Falls area in the past year.
About 600 workers are expected to be employed during construction of the hospital and specialty medical clinic, which are slated for an early 2020 completion, according to Avera. The majority of the work will be bond financed, Flicek said.
Avera opened a freestanding emergency room on the west side of the city in November and its third urgent care clinic in Sioux Falls, this one on the south side of the city, in January. It continues to grow its presence in Sioux Falls with its telehealth offerings, such as kiosks at five Hy-Vee grocery stores in the city, where shoppers can meet with a nurse attendant to check their blood pressure, glucose level and engage in a virtual health care visit with a provider located off-site, Flicek said.