The Thomas W. Huebner Medical Office Building at Rutland Regional Medical Center was officially dedicated on Monday, Oct.19. The new building, which is adjacent to the hospital on Allen Street in Rutland, is the new home for the Vermont Orthopaedic Clinic, Physiatry services and ENT & Audiology.
The ribbon cutting ceremony took place outside of the building with participants flanking the building’s namesake, Tom Huebner, former president and CEO of the hospital.
Rutland Regional Medical Center broke ground on the new 37,000 square foot, two-story medical office building in April 2019. The projected cost of the project was $23,883,569 and it ended on budget despite a two-month delay due to Covid-19 pandemic. The building was expected to open in June 2020 but with a several-week construction shutdown due to Covid-19, the opening was pushed out several months.
In March of 2018, the Rutland Regional board of directors announced the naming of the building after the hospital’s long-time CEO and President, Tom Huebner. At the time, Huebner was understandably modest in his acceptance of this honor. Since then he humbly took part in the ground-breaking in April 2019 and today’s ribbon cutting ceremony.
“When I retired 2-1/2 years ago it was bittersweet, but one of the most touching moments that took my breath away, was when the Board of Directors decided to name this building after me,” said Huebner. “I kind of feel weird about that to be honest. It feels sort of inappropriate. But it is an honor that I accepted, and I do truly, truly appreciate. I am so glad the building is here and for years to come, it will be providing such a great service to our patients.”
The principal partners in this project include HP Cummings Construction, LaVallee Brensinger Architects, Artisan Engineering, Krebs & Lansing Engineers, and LN Consulting and financial partners USDA Rural Development, ECHO Financial and TD Bank.
“Our construction manager H.P Cummings and the many partners and local subcontractors did an outstanding job to complete this project safely and on budget, despite the significant challenges brought on by Covid-19,” added RRMC CEO Claudio Fort. “I am truly grateful for the teamwork and dedication demonstrated throughout this project from the ground-breaking to the build out to the move-in. It was an incredible display of the Vermont work ethic.”