The Dirt: Premera Blue Cross, Vera Whole Health break ground on Vivacity Care Center in Spokane Valley

Premera Blue Cross and Vera Whole Health broke ground on a new medical office building last week in Spokane Valley.

Premera is building the 13,000-square-foot Vivacity Care Center at 16009 E. Indiana Ave. in the the Riverview Corporate Center.

The care center will be a one-stop shop offering prescription refills, lab work, radiology and X-rays, among other services. More than 40% of the center’s schedule will be made available for same- or next-day appointments, according to a company news release.

The center, when fully operational, will employ up to 40 people, including doctors, nurses, behavioral health professionals, health coaches, medical assistants, administrative staff and radiology technicians.

Vivacity Care Center is slated to open in mid- to late 2020.

The center is part of Premera’s plan to expand advanced primary care services in Spokane. Premera opened its first primary care center at 9001 N. Country Homes Blvd. in January.

The project contractor is Spokane-based Meridian Construction.

Mountlake Terrace-based Premera Blue Cross is a nonprofit independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. It provides health benefits and services to more than 2 million people.

Greenstone building commercial space

Liberty Lake-based Greenstone Homes is building a new commercial space near the River District community.

Frank Family Investment LLC broke ground last week on a more than 2,800-square-foot commercial building with space for two tenants at 1950 N. Harvest Parkway.

The commercial project is part of Greenstone’s master plan to develop 650 acres of Liberty Lake’s River District community.

“One of the important components of our plan is to mix small commercial uses within residential housing areas, similar to Rockwood Bakery near Manito Park – or more recently –Hello Sugar and Park Lodge across from Olmstead Brothers Park in Kendall Yards,” Greenstone Homes wrote on its Facebook page.

The project contractor is Colbert-based Kilgore Construction. The project engineer is Spokane-based GLR Engineers, according to city documents.

The River District development includes single-family homes, apartments and a senior-living community, with plans for a future commercial center.