A plan to construct a new building in the Nevada City Tech Center geared toward the area's medical needs could attract more doctors and provide more modern and accommodating facilities for area residents, said an official who would sell the space.

The proposed 22,000-square-foot, two-story building on flat land adjacent to 2Wire could help doctors and patients simply by offering services in a centralized location, said the project's agent, Lock Richards of Sperry Van Ness/Highland Commercial

"We're excited because we think this is the type of product that is missing in Nevada City," said Richards.

A scattered assortment of doctors' offices in older buildings is often where people go locally, Richards said.

"A lot of older buildings in our area are difficult to retrofit," Richards said. "We're trying to avoid all these issues by building new."

With the new medical building, the tech center would provide one thing the county needed - more higher-paying jobs in the health care industry, according to a December economic development study. That would appear to be a no-brainer in a county that is one of the oldest in the state and therefore in need of more medical care.

The more accommodating building would have a patient drop-off area and an elevator to the second floor, Richards said.

Depending on size requirements, it could include room for up to 15 doctors, Richards said.

Construction is slated to start this spring, with the building completed in early 2009.

The planned tech center building isn't the only medical building in the works.

A two-story, 25,000-square-foot medical building at 280 Sierra College Drive could begin housing its first tenants shortly after the beginning of May, said Jeff Johnson, president of Pacific Land Enterprises, Inc.

"I think there's a demand with the (area's) existing medical doctors for space like this," Johnson said.

Like Richards, Johnson sees the demand for a well-designed building with sufficient parking as key.

Also, plans for two new medical buildings at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital are in the works.

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To contact Staff Writer Greg Moberly, e-mail gmoberly@theunion.com or call 477-4234.