Proposed Wilkinson Center Addition Going Out to Bid

Stephens County Hospital is taking the next step in building a small addition to the Wilkinson Center.

Monday, the Hospital Authority’s Building and Grounds Committee gave the go-ahead on the final plans for the proposed addition and the Authority gave staff permission to go ahead and get bids for the work.

Hospital Administrator Ed Gambrell said that this will allow the hospital to get a good idea of what the project might cost.

“We will function as the general contractor,” said Gambrell. “We will get bids for plumbing and electrical, concrete, and carpentry, so we can compute what the total cost of the project will be. Then we will come back to the Authority and receive final approval to proceed.”

Gambrell said the hospital is looking at a minor addition to the Wilkinson Center that would fall under the facility’s current license.

“We want to build four additional units at the Wilkinson Center,” said Gambrell. “Each of these units will be approximately 1000 square feet and this separate building will be connected by a heated hallway to the main Wilkinson Center, very close to the dining area so it will be very convenient.”

Each unit would house two people comfortably.

Gambrell said he feels like the demand is there for the units.

“We get a lot of requests and we feel that they will be spoken for probably from the completion date for them,” said Gambrell.

Gambrell said that if the bids come in higher than the Authority is expecting and out of the hospital’s budget range, the hospital has not committed to the project and could back away at that time to re-examine the project and the bids.

He said he hopes to have the bids back in the next month or two and if all goes according to plan, receive the go-ahead to start construction later this summer.

The Wilkinson Center, a retirement living facility on the campus of Stephens County Hospital on Falls Road in Toccoa, currently has 40 units.

Gambrell said that currently between the Wilkinson Center and the Clary Care Center, there are 83 rooms and Stephens County Hospital is licensed to have 92 beds between the two.