Work begins at new urgent care facility site

By: James Beaty, Managing Editor

A building permit has been issued  for construction of a new urgent care facility at a cost of nearly $1 million on the east side of McAlester.

City of McAlester Community Development Director Jayme Clifton said the permit is for construction of a 3,600-square-foot building. The permit is for $990,000 in total costs and improvements, she said.

“It’s for a walk-in clinic,” said Clifton.

The city of McAlester issued the building permit for construction of the building to Palm Development Partners, identified as a Tennessee-based development company. 

Development Manager Winston Parks is president of Winston Warren, identified as a Nashville-based real estate company. He said the new building will house an Xpress Wellness Urgent Care facility. Xpress Wellness already has a number of urgent care sites open in Oklahoma and Kansas, he noted.

An address has been assigned to the lot where the Xpress Welless Urgent Care building will be built at 340 S. George Nigh Expressway. Plans call for it to be north of the Dollar General Store and Tractor Supply buildings in the vicinity.

Work has been underway at the site to set the foundation for a building pad, but construction of the physical building has yet to begin, pending further approval from the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. Plans for where the driveway will be placed had to be revised, Clifton said. ODOT owns and maintains the access road that runs in front of the site.

Clifton said the city is holding on to the building permit until ODOT clears the revised plans.

“We’re waiting for ODOT to clear the right-of-way,” Clifton said.

Parks said he had been to the McAlester site Tuesday and the modified plan has been presented to ODOT. He said the request for modification is not unusual in these types of projects.

“You submit an entrance application,” he said. “They asked us to move the entrance a little farther north, and we did.” ODOT owns and maintains the service, or access, roads on both sides of U.S. Highway 69, also known as the George Nigh Expressway in McAlester.

Parks said all he’s waiting on the official approval from ODOT. He said he is ready to begin construction on the project.

“I think Palm Development is glad to be investing in this,” he said, adding that he’s sure Xpress Wellness is as well.

The city has not received a timeline for when construction of the new urgent care facility will be completed. Clifton said the city does not typically receive a construction schedule for such projects.

“I know they’re ready to start construction,” she said.

The city of McAlester is assessing $1,188 in fees for plumbing, mechanical, electrical and building inspections for the project, said Clifton.

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.