Lake Region Healthcare's Board of Trustees has approved a project budget of up to $27 million to build a new central utility plant on its Fergus Falls campus, consolidating the aging heating, cooling and emergency-power systems that keep the hospital running. The new facility is planned for the rear portion of the campus near the corner of Mill Street and Alcott Avenue, with construction expected to begin in 2027 and completion anticipated in fall 2028.
The Board of Trustees approved a project budget not to exceed $27 million, according to Fergus Falls Journal. The plant will house boilers for heat, chillers for cooling and generators for emergency power, replacing systems that are currently spread throughout the existing facility, per the same report. Those systems have been maintained for decades, and replacement parts are getting hard to find while the risk of a breakdown grows, the outlet notes.
Why Hospital Leaders Say the Upgrade Can't Wait
Lake Region Healthcare CEO Kent Mattson said the investment is essential to maintaining reliable healthcare services for the region. Even though utility systems rarely draw public attention, Mattson said they are essential to every patient, every procedure, and every day of care, as reported by the Fergus Falls Journal.
After years of study, hospital leaders, engineers and outside consultants concluded that a single utility plant was the most effective long-term solution for supporting current operations, while leaving room for future campus improvements, the article states. The plant's design is intended to be modular, built so it can be expanded or adapted as the campus grows, according to the same account.
Part of a Larger Strategic Push
The utility plant is one piece of Lake Region Healthcare's broader New Waters strategic plan, which focuses on strengthening healthcare services through investments in facilities, technology, staff and services. As Fergus Now has reported, the plan is aimed at accelerating growth, investments in facilities and leading-edge technologies, strengthening the workforce, and ensuring long-term sustainability, according to Fergus Now's earlier coverage. That same reporting said the next step in the multi-year strategic plan is a master facility planning process to address critical needs on the Fergus Falls campus, including a central utility plant.
Lake Region Healthcare has a history of major facility investment in Fergus Falls. The health system's three-story, 80,000-square-foot clinic opened in December 2015, and energy-saving measures tied to that building were projected to save more than 11 percent in electrical demand and nearly 16 percent in electricity consumption per year, according to Otter Tail Power Company. A grant of more than $26,000 for those energy-efficiency investments brought the expected payback to just over six years, the company's account adds.
The health system has also previously expanded its ambulatory care facility in Fergus Falls to replace an outdated, inefficient, under-sized clinic, according to BWBR, the project's architecture firm. That earlier effort included an 82,000-square-foot new ambulatory services facility alongside a 5,000-square-foot remodel of the existing hospital, per the same source.
Lake Region Healthcare has confirmed on its own website that it has approved plans to move forward with the infrastructure investment to support future healthcare needs, according to Lake Region Healthcare. With construction still roughly a year off, the centralized plant is intended to support current operations while providing flexibility for future campus improvements and expansion, according to the Fergus Falls Journal's reporting.
