PORT ANGELES — After six months of searching for a contractor, Olympic Medical Center approved a $9.2 million agreement Wednesday to expand the hospital at 939 Caroline St.
Berschauer-Phillips Construction Co. of Olympia will build the addition that will house the dietary, cardiac and imaging departments.
The same contractor remodeled the hospital’s operating room from 1997 to 1999.
The new construction is expected to start in February and end in June 2007.
The medical center has tried to award a contract since August, when it rejected bids that exceeded its original $7.9 million ceiling.
In September, commissioners added $1.5 million to the project. In November, they extended the deadline for bids.
Restaurant-like service
The expansion will give the hospital its first new kitchen in 30 years, said Graciela Harris, director of nutrition services.
Rather than preparing one meal for all its patients, it will be able to give restaurant-like service with individual meals on demand, she said.
The addition also will consolidate the medical center’s cardiac services and bring its magnetic resonance imaging equipment into the central hospital.
MRI now operates in another building.