NORWAY — The architect for Western Maine Health’s $10 million expansion project is expected to meet with the Planning Board next month as officials prepare to break ground in April.

Code Enforcement Officer Joelle Corey-Whitman, who met with the project architect and fire Chief Dennis Yates on Thursday, said it appears the architectural firm SMRT Inc. and hospital officials will finalize the design for budgeting purposes before presenting plans to the Planning Board in late February.

In August, Western Maine Health, owners of Stephens Memorial Hospital, the adjacent Ripley Medical Building and other facilities, announced the construction of a new medical office building on Pikes Hill Road as part of a $10 million project to meet increasing out-of-hospital care needs.

The proposed 25,500-square-foot office building will be built on a three-acre lot where the C.B. Cummings & Sons Co. dowel mill stood until 2005. Western Maine Health purchased the site from Cummings Mill Holdings LLC, about seven years ago.

The new offices are expected to cost $8.2 million.

As part of the project, the Ripley Medical Building will undergo a $1.8 million renovation. It will become the home of Western Maine Pediatrics and its other occupants will move to the new building.

The driving force behind the expansion is a growth in outpatient care, Barbara Allen, vice president of community relations, said last year.

Corey-Whitman said the applicants will be presenting preliminary plans for parking, lighting and other issues to the Planning Board. The applicant will be given a list of requirements to meet.

The meeting Thursday with the Portland architects went well, she said.

“Dennis Yates and I saw no issues with the preliminary plans,” Corey-Whitman said. “It’s going to be a great addition to the northwesterly end of downtown and hopefully lots of foot traffic added to that end of Main Street.”

ldixon@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link