Tuality Seventh Avenue Medical Plaza

Design-Build Partnership on New Medical Plaza Kicks Off 50-year Plan for Tuality Campus

by Melody Finnemore

A new five-story medical plaza is the first piece of a campus-wide development plan Tuality Community Hospital has initiated to accommodate the demand of a growing population in Hillsboro, Ore.

The new five-story Tuality Seventh Avenue Medical Plaza is the first piece of a campus-wide development plan Tuality Community Hospital has initiated to accommodate the demand of a growing population in Hillsboro, Ore. Image courtesy of Clark/Kjos

Completed in June, the 129,000-sq.-ft. Tuality Seventh Avenue Medical Plaza, 333 S.E. Seventh Ave., features a coffee shop, medical equipment supply store and parking garage on the first floor. The second and third floors house medical operations such as outpatient surgery space, a lab and administrative offices. The fourth and fifth stories provide office space owned by Surgical Associates PC and other independent physicians.

Construction began in May 2002 on the $12 million project, which incorporated a design-build contract that partnered Clark/Kjos Architects with Andersen Construction Co. Inc., both of Portland.

"The hospital from the get-go decided to do this project with no up-front capital, and the design-build contract made that possible," said Tom Clark, principal at Clark/Kjos Architects.

Clark/Kjos worked with owner Pacific Medical Buildings of San Diego to create a facility development plan that provides a vision for expansion through the next 50 years.

"It finally came time that they were bursting at the seams, so they began to create a long-term plan," Clark said. "We've projected how they need to grow and where to put buildings now so they are in the right place 20 years from now. This building is the first piece of that plan."

The new medical plaza was especially rewarding for Clark, who began working with Tuality Community Hospital 20 years ago as a designer with BOORA Architects Inc. and has helped the hospital with several small remodels and satellite facilities over the years.

"It's the biggest project we've done for Tuality and that was exciting," he said.

To break up the bulkiness that can result from the larger floor area required to accommodate ambulatory care services, Clark/Kjos incorporated a tower into the structure's design to help bring the bulky mass to scale. The architecture firm also utilized a brick exterior that matches the campus' existing buildings to ensure the medical plaza fits in with its surroundings.

A bridge links the medical plaza with Tuality Community Hospital, and signage helps unify the campus.

Designers wanted to create a medical plaza that complements its surrounding campus and also has character.

"We designed the medical plaza with a lot more glass than the hospital has so that is a distinguishing characteristic that makes it a little different," Clark said.

Once the facility development plan was created and Clark/Kjos designed the new medical plaza, Pacific Medical Buildings worked with the architecture firm to select Andersen Construction as the general contractor. Kelly Dixon, Andersen's senior project manager, said permitting and state licensing for a mixed-use building that includes retail space and medical operations added to the project's complexity.

In addition, the medical plaza is owned by multiple entities, and another contractor was working on tenant improvements on the fourth and fifth floors while Andersen crews were at work.

"The limited space we had for construction plus the addition of another general contractor created a real challenge for us on the project," Dixon said.