On Thursday, September 20, Treasure Valley physicians and consumers alike will have the opportunity to tour Meridian’s newest medical facility, the Talus Professional Plaza. What they will see, besides a facility designed to optimize the delivery of neurological and musculoskeletal medical services, is the vision of a Boise neurologist, Dr. Stephan Asher.

In 2004, Dr. Asher began assembling a group of physician partners that were drawn from the medical disciplines of neurology, orthopedics, neurosurgery and pain management. While each maintains their own independent practices, they now share in the ownership of a facility that improves the coordination and continuity of care they offer their patients.

Construction of a medical facility involves a lot of specialties and a level of knowledge of sophisticated systems, products and equipment. Fortunately, Kreizenbeck has been involved in nearly every one of St. Alphonsus’ projects for the last 25 years, and Talus’ concept of creating an out patient facility in combination with a medical office building was very familiar to us based on that experience.

One of the challenges we faced with the Talus project was the fact that the physician partnership and its needs were evolving even as the project began. We were five months into construction before final drawings and estimates were completed, which meant that our initial estimates had to be very flexible. Even more important, we needed a highly cohesive team and a high level of trust in figuring out what the final objective would be.

Another challenge was the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the availability and cost of building materials. Combined with labor shortages resulting from the Treasure Valley construction boom, these factors introduced an additional level of volatility to the project. In spite of these challenges, construction was completed in less than 12 months.

The Talus Professional Plaza represents the first of a three-phase plan to fully develop the physician partnership’s six-acre parcel near the intersection of Overland and Eagle roads. Tomorrow’s open house will expose other medical practices to the potential benefits of the Talus partners’ vision and business model. Having been a part of this project has been very gratifying for Kreizenbeck, and we are looking forward to continuing this relationship into phases II and III.