Whidbey General Hospital leaders have agreed to pay an Anacortes project manager up to $750,000 to coordinate the expansion project.

Hospital commissioners approved an agreement in January with Marc Estvold to lead the $50 million expansion, which is being funded with voter-approved bonds.

Estvold, who recently managed expansion projects at Island Hospital and the Cascade Skagit Health Alliance, will work for Whidbey General Hospital on a contract basis.

Hospital spokeswoman Trish Rose said in an email that Estvold will work on an hourly basis with the $750,000 cap based on the multi-year life of the project.

“This is typical in health-care construction for someone with his expertise who is managing a project of this size and complexity,” Rose said in the email. She added that his references indicate Estvold has delivered high-quality results on time and on budget.

Prior to joining Whidbey General Hospital, Estvold oversaw several projects for Island Hospital, including construction of a 31-bed patient wing that cost $40 million; a $10 million addition for physical therapy, wound care and oncology; and several other smaller additions for other hospital departments.

He also managed an $18 million project for the Cascade Skagit Health Alliance and he is currently managing the construction of a $60 million jail in Skagit County.

Voters in November approved the bond measure by over 60 percent.

The funding will pay for construction of a new wing that will be located on the south end of the hospital’s Coupeville campus. The new wing will include single-patient rooms along with extra space that officials hope will meet the hospital’s future needs. In addition, plans call for transforming the current patient rooms to clinic space and installing a new parking lot to make up for one that will be lost through the expansion.

With the project manager hired, hospital officials will develop a request-for-proposals to hire an architect to design the new building.

Rose said in the email that the firm hired for the work will examine the hospital’s master site plan and make changes to meet current codes and standards. The architect will work with the employees in the affected departments to help design the new wing.

Hospital staff will also have a site survey completed to establish property corners, and Estvold will establish a project timeline.

Rose said a preliminary estimate indicates the new wing will be completed sometime in the fall of 2016.