ENGLEWOOD – Catamount Constructors, a Lakewood-based commercial general contractor and construction management company, is back at it again in the Meridian International Business Center. While simultaneously constructing the Apex Meridian Apartment complex in this area, the team is now making steady progress on a new fertility center in Douglas County.
Consisting of a new single-story medical office building totaling 12,833 square feet with 61 parking spaces, the new Rocky Mountain Fertility Center location will house a medical practice space, two office-based procedure areas, eight exam rooms, four ultrasound rooms, in vitro fertilization (IVF) laboratory space, an externally-accessible yoga studio, and seven acupuncture/therapy areas. Architecture and Consulting firm, Marasco & Associates, Inc., partnered with Catamount on the project.
While adhering to various code and inspection requirements from Meridian International Business Center and Douglas County and South Metro Fire Rescue, the team has persevered through several cold-weather delays to stay on a tight schedule and hard completion deadline of June 2019. The deadline is backed by the need to migrate gametes and embryos to the new facility from Rocky Mountain Fertility Center’s location in Parker.
“Before we can move our samples and proceed with new IVF cycles, the site needs to be cleared of all potential contaminants and all the IVF lab and cryogenic storage rooms need to be VOC free,” said Dr. Deborah Smith, award-winning fertility doctor and reproductive endocrinologist. To serve these needs, the Catamount team provided special considerations for the clean rooms, including specialized filtration of medical-grade gasses such as liquid nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and trigas for the IVF and cryogenic process including cryopreservation of embryos and gametes.
“All systems are also wired to a separate emergency power source,” said Shawn McDanal, Catamount’s project manager. “Our main hurdle going forward is that the site’s IVF facility will need to go through a 30-day ‘bake off’ and commissioning period to remove contaminants before it’s ready for Dr. Smith.”
McDanal has been steadily chipping away at the project since the team broke ground in September 2018. “The project has been challenging,” he began. “We needed to work around a few inclement weather delays to stay on schedule. We need to make sure all the systems are compliant with the latest codes – which recently changed for the State of Colorado. I think we are in good shape for our June deadline.”
“I am very pleased with the progress that is being made right now to the facility,” said Dr. Smith. “The new location and larger facility will be very beneficial for the practice – we will get a lot better exposure and our center is much more accessible here.”
Images courtesy of Catamount Constructors, Marasco & Associates, Inc., and Rocky Mountain Photography.
