Loven Contracting of Flagstaff recently completed the transformation of an empty furniture store into an ultramodern pediatric healthcare facility. The complete interior remodel of the old La-Z-Boy furniture store on Highway 89 adapted the space for reuse as the new Northern Arizona Healthcare Children’s Health Center. Loven Contracting executed the innovative design for the pediatric healthcare center in partnership with Corgan, a leading architecture and design firm that started more than 80 years ago.
“The existing ‘big box’ retail building lent itself well to adaptive reuse and the design-plus-build process,” said Loven Contracting President Mike Loven. “There were significant deferred maintenance and water infiltration issues, but our team addressed them in the early phases of the project and transformed it into a state-of-the-art healthcLEare facility.”
The benefits of adaptive reuse of existing buildings include reducing building materials for greater sustainability, and cost and time savings on demolition, according to the World Green Building Council. The Loven team has years of experience with sustainable construction in Arizona, including the only LEED Platinum Certified structure in Grand Canyon National Park, the Science & Resource Management Building.
Jarmer Electric, Ignace Brothers, BZ Painting, Another Plumbing Company, Agassiz Landscaping, LP Excavating and Morning Dew Landscaping were local contractors that worked on the Children’s Health Center project.
The nearly 22,000-square-foot Children’s Health Center will enable Northern Arizona Healthcare (NAH) to better serve children from across the region by providing a single location for the Children’s clinic, therapy, audiology and Safe Child and Fit Kids programs. The new facility, away from the primary Flagstaff Medical Center campus, includes:
General care exam rooms,
Behavioral health observation suite,
Audiology suite,
Physical therapy gyms,
X-ray and radiology rooms,
Orthopedic cast room,
Nurses station,
A teaching kitchen,
A playground area, and
ADA upgrades to site access points.
The center also boasts an adaptive playground, which is said to be the only one of its kind in Arizona.
“The goal, when looking for a new space, was to find a location that would better accommodate new programs, allow easier parking and access from the freeway, and create a place where children and young adults feel comfortable and safe,” said Jon Cook, director of rehabilitation services at Northern Arizona Healthcare.
The design for the new addition to the region’s healthcare community implements colors that promote a healing environment, modern finishes and murals with whimsical children’s themes.
Loven Contracting has constructed other medical facilities across the state, including Arizona for Sacred Peaks Health Center and Flagstaff Bone & Joint Ambulatory Surgical Center in Flagstaff, Verde Valley Medical Center office building in Cottonwood and the Sunset Community Health Center in Yuma.
The Children’s Health Center outpatient location at 5130 N. Highway 89 is scheduled to open this fall. FBN
By Stacey Wittig, FBN
