Whidbey General Hospital’s expansion has taken a step forward.

The hospital’s board of commissioners approved an agreement in January with Marc Estvold to manage the project.

Voters approved a $50-million bond in November.

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

The contract with Estvold will cap at $750,000 for the project, estimated to be completed in 2016.

In an email, Whidbey General Hospital spokeswoman Trish Rose said that Estvold will be working on an hourly basis with the 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.

She added that his references indicate Estvold has delivered high-quality results on time and on budget.

Prior to being brought on board the Whidbey General Hospital expansion project, 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.

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

Whidbey Island voters approved the expansion project bond with more than 60 percent in favor of the expansion.

A supermajority was required for passage.

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 the one lost through the expansion.

With the project manager hired, hospital officials will start developing 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 where it meets 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.