Former Chelan hospital to transform into 'Hub Center' with offices, coworking space

CHELAN – The former hospital building in Chelan is being repurposed into a mixed-use business building called the Hub Center.

Managed by Coldwell Banker Cascade, the property will provide a variety of workspace options to meet the diverse needs of the community, Property Manager Jolene Baker said.

Renovations are underway, with individual office spaces expected to become available by the spring. 

The first floor is rented out by Roots Community School and they will be there for years, Baker said.

The second floor will have space for private offices and a coworking space. There will be 17 individual office spaces on the second floor. However, some of those offices could be combined to make a larger space for a business, Baker said.

The coworking space will have membership options by the hour, day, or month. Details for the coworking space are still in the planning phase. But the company plans to model the coworking area after a coworking space in Wenatchee.

Baker thinks the coworking space will be a good fit for Chelan.

"It's a new product for the Chelan market,” Baker said. “Wenatchee has a couple facilities like that, and they do quite well, it's obviously a bigger community. So it will be interesting to see how it works in Chelan.”

“But I do think it will be successful,” she said. “I think it might be more successful seasonally. I think when tourists are in town, and if you know you have a great spot, you can go work for an hour and get away from the hotel room or the condo, it's a great option.”

Both the second and third floors have great views, but the third floor has the best view, Baker said.

“Number one, it (the Hub Center) has amazing views,” she said. “But small office space is very hard to find in this market. Coldwell does property management for numerous commercial spaces and small little spots for, you know, a massage therapist or just something that doesn't need a huge office space. They don't need a big floor plan or footprint. They just need at least, maybe five, 700 square feet. These are perfect spaces for that.”

The third floor will offer a larger space for one or two tenants. 

“That building's been there forever, and everybody knows the old hospital,” she said. “So it's pretty iconic to be able to have an office space in there. And I think the top floor would be great for, you know, a larger company, even putting, like, a spa in there or something like that. There's tons of options.”

The group recently held an open house in the space so the public could see the progress inside. Baker said they plan to have more opportunities for the public to view the space as it progresses. 

Community members have been curious about what is happening in the building. Workers have gutted the space and community members have seen a lot of activity at the site, Baker said.

“So having this open house is just basically for the community,” she said. “The community can see what's going on, all the exciting ‘what's going to be coming up’, and then we'll do more open houses as it progresses as well.”

Quinn Propst: 509-731-3590 or quinn@ward.media.