Halted development in the Issaquah Highlands won’t impact Swedish Hospital’s ability to fill beds at its new facility, administrators say.

Rather the hospital is such an economic stimulant, it’s expected to help reverse the local economy, said Kevin Brown, the Swedish vice president overseeing the project.

Even with the slump, the plateau needed a hospital more than any other area in the state, Brown said.

Much of the housing has been built out in the Highlands, but just before Port Blakely Communities could attract retail developers, the recession began. Now the area has little retail, but thousands of residents.

With the hospital and medical offices planning to open with 350 employees in July, Port Blakely talked to a dozen interested developers, even signing a letter of intent with one, said John Shaw, a Port Blakely consultant.

The site will eventually employ 1,000 people.

While the wheels of retail are beginning to take traction for Blakely, the promising changes also can be attributed to Bellevue College announcing a Highlands campus, new housing projects and a healing economy, he said. “It’s all synergistic, and the hospital has been a big part.”

Swedish plans to open the $200 million hospital with $170 million medical offices July 9, during Issaquah Highlands Days. The staff is expecting to move in this June for simulations. The project is four months ahead of schedule.

Although there is space for 175 beds, the hospital will only open with 80. It will take five or six years to get Swedish Issaquah up to full capacity, Brown said.

Medical offices join two hospital wings equipped for all the workings of an oncology department, including two rooms for radiation treatments.

The radiation rooms are lined with thick concrete walls and sealed off by massive steel doors, which make the room feel more like a vault.

Chemotherapy patients have a view of a garden with natural light flooding into the room.

The hospital expects to have a long list of specialty services, including 10 general operating rooms, but it’s birthing center is at the top of the list.

Delivery rooms have jacuzzi tubs for pain management, and second beds for the men. Down the hall, two operating rooms are set aside for caesarean sections.

After the babies arrive, mothers can recover in one of 31 post-partem rooms, which will overlook a luscious green courtyard at the center of the facility.

The full-service emergency room is also a major focus. Typical visits last about four hours, but the team hopes to cut that down to 80 minutes, said program manager Susan Gillespie.

Being able to build the massive hospital in one phase, instead of typical aging facilities with piecemeal expansions, Swedish is trying a few innovative ideas.

There is only one set of public elevators in the hospital. The medical offices and hospital are connected on each floor, increasing communication between physicians and surgeons.

The main entrance will appear more like a shopping mall than a hospital. A handful of shops and a pharmacy to the right, and an information desk to the left. Starbucks even plans to join the venture.

While a basement kitchen is expected to make all the inpatient meals, there isn’t a cafeteria, Gillespie said.

Swedish will, however, have a “cafe” with a seasoned chef, she said. “Everyone thinks jello, I think thin-crust Italian pizza.”

The building also has a couple meeting rooms open to public use.

“We really focused on making this campus a community-based space,” Gillespie said.