Intermountain Logan Regional Hospital has started demolition of two patient towers, the next step in a multi-year expansion and renovation plan on its campus at 1400 N 500 E.
The hospital President expects the demolition to take about two months. Departments and patients formerly housed in the two buildings have been moved to the hospital's new inpatient tower, which was completed in October.
Hospital President and CEO Brandon McBride said after the demolition is complete, the next steps will be to build a new main entrance and reconfigure the parking layout.
The whole renovation and expansion project cost will be $136 million, including planning, design and construction of the new tower, demolition of the old towers, building the new entryway and the reconfiguration.
McBride said they expect the current project to be finished in September 2025.
He said the main reason for building the new tower and demolishing the old buildings is to address poor layout and room configuration issues.
"The towers were designed and built in the late 1970s," McBride said. "The standard of care, as far as space and layout of patient rooms, has improved significantly since then."
A secondary benefit McBride gave for the project is to make it easier for the public to find inpatient services, because of the new entrance and all the inpatient services being in one dedicated place on the north end of the campus.
When demolition of the towers began last week, local residents stood on the street to watch.
The towers opened in 1980. McBride said they have been fixtures in the Cache Valley community for 44 years, visible as people drove up and down 1400 N.
"For patients and caregivers, those towers hold a lot of sentimental value," McBride said.
He said as they made the move to the new building, he had conversations with several staff about all their stories and experiences in the buildings over the years.
"We'll always remember the great memories we have had and look forward to building new memories and continuing to provide incredible patient care to our community in the new building moving forward," McBride said.
The hospital isn't slowing down now that the three-and-a-half-year construction of the new tower is completed.
Intermountain broke ground on an expansion of the Gossner Cancer Center in June.
The expansion will add space and enhance services for the Radiation Oncology department, according to McBride.
He said hospital administration continue to evaluate space in the emergency department, labs and operating rooms, looking at next potential projects for renovation and expansion.
"All of these projects are exciting for Logan Regional and the community," McBride said. As a hospital, we are 100% committed, as our community grows, to make sure we are growing our services and space to make sure we are meeting the needs of our patients and community. That is what this is all about."