MOSES LAKE — Samaritan Healthcare commissioners approved the purchase of a parcel of land at a special meeting Monday, the first step toward a possible new hospital. Commissioners also agreed to allow Samaritan’s administrative team to continue negotiations for other parcels of land at the same site.

Commissioners bought the parcel for $1.2 million, have options on other parcels and are negotiating for still others. The property is at the intersection of Yonezawa Boulevard and Clover Drive, across the street from Lowe’s home improvement store.

Samaritan officials announced in October that they are considering the construction of a new hospital on the site. At that time, hospital officials said the goal was to pay for the project without requiring a construction bond. The preliminary estimate of cost was about $100 million.

Whether or not a new hospital will be built is still under consideration, and hospital officials are looking for an architectural firm to help them make that decision.

The committee working on evaluating the proposals from architectural firms is expected to make a recommendation at the Dec. 18 commission meeting.

Joe Kunkel, the consultant working with the hospital, said the project got seven applications, and the committee met with three firms, all from Seattle. A “clear choice” came out of that, but Kunkel declined to name the company because the two sides are in contract negotiations.

“This will be a two-step process,” Kunkel said. The first will be preparation of a master facility plan, a process that’s expected to take about three months. Kunkel said in his experience the design phase, from the facility plan to producing the design for a new building, takes about a year. He estimated construction would take about two years once the design was completed.

A critical part of the design phase will be planning for the future, Kunkel said. That will include determining how the building would adapt as the needs of doctors and patients change.

Commissioners and hospital officials said during the October announcement that they had considered remodeling the existing hospital, or tearing it down and building a new hospital. But the existing site is surrounded by wetlands, other government and health care agencies and an East Columbia Basin Irrigation District facility. Consultants hired to evaluate the options said each one would cost about $100 million.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].