Biz Bits: Gritman Medical Center adds Thrivent Building to its holdings

Gritman Medical Center has expanded its footprint in downtown Moscow by acquiring the Thrivent Building at 409 S. Jackson St. from Mark Wintz, an independent real estate developer and contractor.

Wintz had owned the 16,600-square-foot former home of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News for about 10 years. He bought it from TPC Holdings, the parent company of the Daily News and Lewiston Tribune.

It was remodeled for EMSI, which later moved to a different Moscow location and now goes by the name of Lightcast.

Gritman’s purchase is part of its strategy to expand its services in Moscow’s “vibrant” downtown to meet demand as the city grows, said Brad Gary, a hospital spokesperson, in an email.

“Moscow’s downtown offers easy access to services and is in close proximity to the services provided by our main hospital campus,” he said.

The hospital plans to move Gritman Therapy Solutions, at 810 S. Main St., to the Thrivent Building in 2024 and remodel the Gritman Therapy Solutions space, according to a news release from Gritman.

Therapy Solutions offers physical, occupational and speech therapy. The Thrivent Building is larger than the present 11,000-square-foot location of therapy solutions, something that will allow Gritman to hire more therapists and reduce wait times for patients, according to the news release.

A law firm and financial planners are present tenants of the Thrivent Building.

“Gritman is honoring all existing leases as part of its Jackson Street purchase agreement,” according to the news release.

Gritman Medical Center is one of the largest property owners in downtown Moscow. Besides its 153,000-square-foot hospital, the Thrivent Building and therapy solutions building, it owns the C.L. Gritman Medical Office Building at 803 S. Main St. and the former federal courthouse at 220 E. Fifth St.

CHAS Latah Community Health and the University of Idaho WWAMI Medical Education Program are in the three-story, 57,000-square-foot C.L. Gritman Medical Office Building that Gritman built.

Palouse Neurology and Palouse Oncology and Hematology are also in that building with Gritman’s infusion services, clinical nutrition and diabetes care and cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation. A Gritman cafe called Pearl Bistro is on the second floor.

The U.S. Postal Service is the anchor tenant of the three-story, 43,000-square-foot Gritman Federal Building. Locations of the Idaho Office of Species Conservation and the Latah County Soil and Water District are also there, along with law firms, mortgage offices and counselors.

In addition to those properties, Gritman owns a handful of smaller downtown buildings.

Emergency medicine doctor wins Pullman hospital award

PULLMAN — An emergency medicine doctor won the 2023 Physician Excellence Award from Pullman Regional Hospital.

The annual honor went to Dr. Garrett Luettgen, who was nominated by four colleagues from a pool of eight nominees.

He has worked for the hospital for two years and serves on the hospital’s emergency medicine committee, trauma committee and reliability management team.

Known for being approachable, hardworking and respectful, Luettgen makes an extra effort to make sure all staff are informed of care plans, according to a news release from Pullman Regional Hospital.

He often lightens the mood with jokes and provides thorough communication for patients and families, according to the news release.

“His friendly personality brings the team together and makes everyone want to do their best,” according to those who nominated him. “Not only does he give clear orders, but he is always happy and willing to explain his rationale.”

Architect Karl Koning is building a home in Lewiston using the latest techniques

A forested mountainside in Waha will be visible from a 13-foot-by-10-foot window in the living room of a house that Karl Koning, an architect, is building in the Lewiston Orchards.

Typically windows that large are impractical in homes because of how much heat escapes in the winter and how much cool they release in the summer, Koning said.

But his cutting-edge, energy-efficient house is being made with structural insulated panels, a material that shields structures from the weather more efficiently than traditional stick-built lumber construction, he said.

“There’s very few points of failure for air and water infiltration,” Koning said.

Koning, who recently relocated to Lewiston from the Seattle area, plans to use the three-bedroom house as a showcase for clients. His contact information is at his website at KTKArchitecture.com.

His previous work over three decades includes designing hundreds of new homes as well as renovations and expansions of existing dwellings. He’s also been involved in commercial projects, such working on a 4 million-square-foot Boeing factory in the mid-1990s.

At his Lewiston house, he anticipates that all of the energy the house will require, including heating, cooling, lighting and appliances, will be generated through on-site solar, something that will be possible because of how robust the insulation is.

“It’s all of the elements working in concert together that create a high-performance design,” Koning said.

The panels for the walls are 6 inches thick and the ones for the roof are 10 inches thick. They’re made by sandwiching a material similar to Styrofoam in between sheets of oriented strand board.

The sheets were custom manufactured by Premier SIPS in Puyallup using Koning’s design. They come with the channels for electricity already installed.

The foam beads in the material in between the oriented strand board sheets are expanded with water instead of chemicals to eliminate off-gassing issues that have long been associated with Styrofoam, he said.

The home will have two kinds of solar. One will be passive solar for heating that will come through light absorbed in the windows and be stored in cement floors. The other will be power generated from solar panels on the roof in an office and shop space on the lot.

The panels are being installed on the outbuilding. Fire codes allow solar panels to be spaced more closely together when they are not on top of a house where they could interfere with firefighters battling blazes, Koning said.

The roof uses Thermoplastic Polyolefin, a low-maintenance, energy efficient material.

The 2,200-square-foot house with an additional 1,800 square feet in the garage and outbuilding will cost around $800,000, not counting the price of the land, Koning said.

Much of that upfront investment will be recouped by the savings on power, he said.

And it’s getting more expensive to meet building codes that have increasingly stringent requirements for energy efficiency with traditional construction methods, Koning said.

Additionally, he believes as contractors become more familiar with the approach, construction costs will drop.

“It’s a learning experience,” Koning said.

Three Rivers Resort under new ownership

More cabins and yurts are planned for Three Rivers Resort, a well-known getaway located east of Kooskia that’s under new ownership.

Investors based in Midland, Texas, acquired the business in August from the Craft family, who had owned it since 2018, said Steve Beattie, one of the investors.

The Craft family includes Stuart and Wendella Craft. The Crafts are the parents of Nicole Engledow, the wife of Chris Engledow, of Asotin.

One of the most noticeable upgrades so far is restoring water and electricity service to 26 recreational vehicle sites, said Beattie, who works full time as a controller of CrownRock Minerals and CRM 2018.

That project is part of an approach that involves serving the clientele who have visited the resort for generations and adding options that will broaden the resort’s appeal, such as higher-end accommodations, he said.

They’re also going to establish partnerships with area outfitters such as Three Rivers Rafting as well as offer tours such as hiking, side-by-side and e-bicycle excursions to provide all-inclusive packages for guests.

The on-site managers are the husband-and-wife team of Jeremy and Shannon Severn. Jeremy Severn and Beattie have known each other for years. They founded Absolute Clarity, a window-cleaning business in Sun Valley not long after Beattie graduated from the University of Montana.

Beattie ran across the listing for Three Rivers when he was doing an online search. It appealed to him partly because of its proximity to his alma mater and his hometown of Phillipsburg, Mont.

“It had all the attributes I was targeting,” he said.

He brings decades of industry experience to the venture. He was previously the chief financial officer for Grand Canyon Resort Corp., the business arm of the Hualapai Tribe.

The “Skywalk” at the Grand Canyon is one of the tribe’s most popular attractions. It’s a glass bridge that allows travelers to walk beyond the rim of the canyon at 4,000 feet above the Colorado River, according to the tribe’s website.

He is also an owner of a recreational vehicle park close to Route 66 in Arizona where a number of snowbirds stay.

What he’s learned at those businesses will benefit Three Rivers, he said.

“It’s an amazing property,” Beattie said. “We love it and we know so many people do.”

Williams can be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.