SEARHC has its building permits to start construction of eight rental units for staff on a 3.28-acre parcel it owns about 1,000 feet down the road from TK’s Mini Mart.

Construction of the three duplexes and two single-family homes is estimated to cost about $3 million, according to the building permit applications filed last year with the borough.

Many of the SEARHC staff in Wrangell are travelers, who come to town on temporary assignments. Providing housing for those staffers and easing the pressure on the community’s tight rental market are the main reasons for the investment in new construction, SEARHC said last summer.

Each duplex will total 1,600 square feet for the two one-bedroom rentals in the building. Plans for the two single-family, two-bedroom homes show one building at 1,100 square feet and the other, a two-story home, at 1,535 square feet.

The five buildings will be constructed with metal roofs, and a mix of metal and stone veneer siding, according to the plans submitted to the borough.

The regional health care provider received planning and commission and borough assembly approval late last year before obtaining its building permits on Dec. 30.

No additional borough permits are required, said Capital Projects Director Amber Al-Haddad, who administers building permits for the borough.

A contractor started some clearing work on the wooded lot last November.

SEARHC last fall said construction would start sometime this year. A SEARHC spokesperson in Juneau did not respond to the Sentinel’s inquiry about a construction schedule.

The housing development will require a new roadway for access to and from Zimovia Highway.

SEARHC, with more than 160 staffers in town, became the largest employer in Wrangell after taking over operations of the borough-owned Wrangell hospital in 2018 and then opening its new $30 million Wrangell Medical Center in 2021.

The development will be its first employee housing in town.

According to the site plan submitted to the borough, the eight rentals will be located toward the back of the lot, farthest from Zimovia Highway, with the potential for additional units in a second phase closer to the highway.

SEARHC has built employee housing in Sitka, and last fall announced plans to construct employee housing in Haines, where it also plans to build a new medical clinic and hospital.