Medical center to set tone for north Carson

The new Carson-Tahoe Regional Medical Center will be built in one of the most visible spots in northern Nevada, a fact that is lost neither on city planners or hospital officials.

Medical center officials this week expect to select a general contractor for the facility to be built just west of Highway 395 at the north edge of Carson City.

The development of that location, highly visible to traffic coming down the grade into Carson City, is expected to be a key element in determining how that end of Carson City will look.

"It's going to open the door to a lot of hospital and office-related development," said Walter Sullivan, planning and community development director for the city.

The development of office space in the neighborhood of the new medical center should help the hospital in its efforts to recruit physicians, Sullivan said.

The current location of Carson-Tahoe Hospital is surrounded by residential development, and doctors need to find office space blocks away.

Richard Linkul, director of marketing for the medical center, said the new facility and surrounding buildings are planned in a campus-like setting, and the hospital board purchased about 60 acres to give it greater control over development of the area.

Along with the $132 million medical center, initial facilities will include a $12 million cancer center and medical offices.

In recent years, Linkul said, several medical facilities and office building already have located nearby on the north side of Carson City.

And Malkiat Dhami, a principal in the partnership developing a new Holiday Inn Express across Highway 395 from the medical center site, has said that the new medical facility was one of the factors that encouraged him to develop the hotel and some neighboring retail buildings.