This article has been changed to reflect the fact that the health care centre proposed in the online Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) is not for the long-proposed community health centre that Fraser Health is working on, as a previous version of this story suggested. An RFP for that project could come later this year, Fraser Health says. The original information was provided after The News asked Fraser Health for more information on the RFEI.
Fraser Health is looking for space for a new health care centre for the Abbotsford Community Dialysis Unit, which could relocate from its current Clearbrook Road site.
That RFEI shows Fraser Health is looking for 15,000 to 18,000 square feet of retail/office space near that would be renovated for $4 million to $5 million. The private owner would bear that cost and then bill Fraser Health for it over the term of a 10-year contract.
Fraser Health is looking for premises “close to Abbotsford Regional Hospital,” but an attached map suggests the health authority would be open to a location as far away as the area surrounding the Sumas Way Highway 11 bypass or along Mt. Lehman Road.
An initial 10-year lease on the property beginning in June of 2018 is sought, with two five-year extension options beyond 2028.
The health authority also says it “requires access to the premises with all base building construction substantially complete on or prior to Nov. 1, 2017.”
A deadline for responses was set for April 24.
The centre is not the community health care centre also being proposed for Abbotsford.
That facility would provide a range of services dealing with a range of issues including home health, public health, primary care, palliativecare, mental health and substance use. The centre had been originally slated to be built at the old MSA Hospital grounds on McCallum Road. But original plans, which included a large residential care component, were scrapped.
Previously, in 2014, the health authority had said it envisioned a Campus of Care for seniors, with a 200-bed residential care facility, a community health centre, multi-family housing, and retail and park space at the McCallum site. A request for proposals (RFP) had been issued, with the Fraser Valley Regional Hospital District providing 40 per cent of the funding, with the province and Fraser Health kicking in the rest.
By last year, the project had been redrawn. Fraser Health now says the property will be listed for sale after consulting with First Nations and undertaking “other processes” The province has given Fraser Health a goal of raising at least $9 million from the sale of the property.