(Images: Country Doctor and Environmental Works)

It is a symbol of progress on affordable health care and a well-supported part of the Capitol Hill community. Now Country Doctor is making plans to expand its 19th Ave E home with a mixed-use project replacing its current offices with a new facility that will add a new dental clinic, and space for expanded services.

The project will go in front of the design review board for the first time Tuesday night.

510 19th Ave E

Design Review Early Design Guidance application proposing a 4-story building with 8 residential units and 9,000 sq. ft. of medical services on the 1st and 2nd floor. Existing structure to be demolished. View Design Proposal  (5 MB)    

“The primary development objective for this project is to expand the services provided by Country Doctor Community Clinic, at this site and its facility directly to the south,” the design proposal for the new project reads. “The new facility will provide medical services including a new dental clinic, and expanded services for WIC (Women, Infants and Children), Maternity, HIV and Chronic Pain. The project will also provide expanded administrative office and meeting space for the entire Country Doctor Community Health Centers network.”

According to the proposal, Country Doctor’s 2,350 square feet of office space in the 1905-built Betty Lee Manor are slated to expand to 9,000 square feet across the first two floors of the new building.

The clinic is seeking funding to create eight apartment units for renters making between 60% to 80% of the median income. “If funding cannot be obtained for the housing units,” the proposal notes, “then only the first two floors of medical services will be built.”

No parking is proposed.

The project could potentially join another new 19th Ave development being planned to bring “elegant” apartments and retail to the northwest corner of 19th and Mercer. The Country Doctor project also joins the in-motion Hugo House development featuring iconic Capitol Hill community organizations making plans for new homes mixed with housing development.

Public comment filed on the Country Doctor project thus far has been focused on the proposal’s potential impact on access to a neighboring building and street safety on 19th Ave E. If you’d like to weigh in with comments or support but can’t make Wednesday’s meeting, email the city’s planner on the project here.

The Country Doctor’s mission is to provide “high-quality, caring, culturally appropriate” health care, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay. In recent years, the nonprofit has found opportunities to expand and partner on new clinics and services.

The Country Doctor Community Health Centers trace their roots back to community clinics started by Black Panther and community activists in the late ’60s and early ’70s. In 1971, Country Doctor was formed on Capitol Hill and called 15th Ave’s Fire Station 7 home along with the early roots of Capitol Hill Housing. Design and architecture firm Environmental Works was also part of the Fire Station 7 group — and still calls the old fire station home today.

Environmental Works is the architect, of course, for the new Country Doctor project set for review.

First Hill medical office building, too
A neighborhood away and from a completely different part of the health care spectrum, the second project on Wednesday night’s review docket is for a six-story office building proposed for Minor near Boren and James:

The intent of the proposed design is to provide a new 6 story building to the east of the Minor & James structure. A pedestrian plaza between the two will provide outdoor amenity space and will be accessible 24/7 from the public sidewalks of Minor, James and Jefferson. The ground floor of the new building will include a covered and screened drop-off vehicular court accessed from essentially the same Minor Avenue curb cut location. Five levels of underground parking that will provide approximately 325 new parking stalls and will connect below grade with the existing garage and service areas.

515 Minor Ave

Design review early design guidance application proposing a 133,000 sq. ft. six story Medical Office Buildng with 5 stories of below grade parking for 250 vehicles and 10 above grade parking spaces. View Design Proposal  (17 MB)