Byline: REAL ESTATE By Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard

A $20 million medical facility that will offer one-stop services for orthopedic ailments remains on track for completion this fall, and within budget, says Steve Korth of the McKay Investment Co., owner-builder of the project.

The Slocum Center for Orthopedics & Sports Medicine will occupy the four-story, 80,000-square-foot building at 55 Coburg Road just north of the Ferry Street Bridge. Its parent company, Orthopedic Healthcare Northwest, is leasing the building from McKay Investment, which owns the nearby Oakway Center.

Completion of the facility will enable Orthopedic Healthcare Northwest, which has 140 employees now occupying offices in Eugene and Springfield, to provide services related to bone, joint, soft-tissue and related conditions - from surgery and physical therapy to acupuncture and massage - in one location.

In late December, the city of Eugene issued McKay Investment a $3.6 million building permit to cover phase three of the building project, "a portion of the initial tenant improvements," Korth said.

"We are on schedule within reasonable tolerances - probably within a week of the original completion date," he said. "We've been lucky, partly because we have done the project through phased permits. First we did the site and foundation work before the weather got bad, and then we did the steel work in the bad weather. Working in phases has allowed us to stay on time."

Unlike many other construction projects, fast-rising prices of building materials such as steel have not put a crimp in the construction of the Slocum building, Korth said.

"We're fortunate to be working with the Neenan Company in Colorado, which has done a lot of medical building construction," he said. "They are big enough that they were able to buy a lot of steel, kind of like on futures, so the price was locked in six or eight months in advance."

If all continues to go well, the center will be up and running by early October, Korth said.

In the meantime, a series of murals decorate the walls around the construction site, depicting colorful X-rays of fingers and toes and painted ribbons bearing the name of the medical center.

"The site obviously is a key entrance to town, and it is part of the physicians' interest to make it as good as it can look for the public during construction," said Liz Cawood, owner of the Cawood public relations firm, which came up with the artwork.

When finished, the glass-and-brick building's ground floor will include a conference center, physical therapy and magnetic resonance imaging suites, pharmacy and medical equipment shop. Clinics will occupy the second and third floors, with surgeries on the fourth floor.

Orthopedic Healthcare Northwest hopes to win a "silver" rating from the national Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, program, which honors construction that meets high energy and environmental standards.

The new building will optimize natural light, use electricity generated by wind power, include recycled building materials and certified wood products, minimize use of polyvinyl chloride and incorporate bioswales and natural landscaping.

A complex of older retail and office spaces that included one of Goodwill Industries' largest local thrift stores previously occupied the 2.4-acre parcel. Goodwill replaced the outlet with a new "superstore" in a building at the corner of Delta Highway and Green Acres Road.

Real Estate Report runs Tuesdays. Reporter Randi Bjornstad can be reached at 338-2321.