Parking to be limited for two months at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center for construction

Parking will be limited at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane for the next two months as work begins on a new primary care clinic planned for the campus.

As the first phase of the multi-year project gets underway Thursday, new parking will be made available behind Building 32 of the facility, and new disabled parking will be made available at its physical therapy clinic and audiology clinic. Volunteers at the medical center are providing additional on-site parking lot shuttle service to transport visitors from their vehicles to the main entrance and back. Veterans can call ahead to (509) 434-7748 to coordinate their shuttle ride once on campus. Construction maps and updates can be obtained at the main desk inside the main hospital.

“VA apologizes for any inconvenience caused by the construction and understands the impacts from these projects will cause extra time for parking and travel on-campus,” Mann-Grandstaff spokesperson Bret Bowers said in a statement.

The first leg of work, bringing utilities out to the parking lot, is a reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, when important care was forced to occur outside the hospital. The access will improve care in emergency situations or if another pandemic ever arises, Bowers said.

“The project will bring utilities and also internet out to the parking lot. So it’ll give us Wi-Fi capabilities, water and heat. It’s going to give us everything that we might need to have out there,” said Sandi Payne, executive assistant to Mann-Grandstaff’s associate director.

In the months ahead, the hospital’s Spokane Transit Authority bus stop will permanently move from its current place near the main parking lot to an area near the old boiler-plant along Independence Ave.

“These are just the first in a series of on-campus parking and route changes to accommodate several new capital improvement projects on campus over the next several years,” Bowers said .