BUTTE - From the corner of Arizona to Park street, the 40,000 square foot Praxis Center building has gained more ground.
The council of commissioners approved a block closure of Wyoming street from Park to Galena to become a public plaza space for the new building once construction begins sometime in 2022.
"It’s great to have that finally done and be able to know that that piece of the property is going to be a part of the actual Praxis Center," says Ray Rogers.
The Praxis Center is a medical simulation training facility that will focus on the needs and train rural healthcare workers from all over the country.
According to an economic impact study done by Circle Analytics, the Praxis Center will benefit over 1,000 jobs and bring in 120 million dollars to the local economy.
"It would have a major impact on this community, and we anticipate we’ll train somewhere around 5,000 healthcare workers a year," said Rogers.
Rogers hopes the look of the Praxis Center will fit right in Uptown Butte.
"It’s going to be designed to look just like a rural critical access hospital and clinic and we’ll have emergency room entrance, ER rooms, OR rooms, patient rooms, clinic rooms. It’s gonna look and feel like a hospital, but it’s going to be run as a training center," said Rogers.
Rogers says $7 million of a $14 million equity offering toward the construction of the building is still in the process of being raised and hopes to raise the remaining funds by the end of 2021.
"We’re excited that we’re just about there and ready to kick this project off and it’s really fun to be where we’re at," said Rogers.
