The Maloff medical facility could open in 2017. Rendering/Provided

If people didn’t know the Maloff name, they will now.

The second significant building in South Lake Tahoe is going to have their name on it. Next up is the Robert Maloff Center of Excellence.

The Barton Foundation was given $10 million to build a health and sports performance center just behind Barton Memorial Hospital near the emergency room. Talks have been under way since last summer to bring this donation to fruition.

This is part of Barton Health’s overall master plan that will delve into what the healthcare organization wants to be in the future. In the last several years it has bought various medical practices and has started to have the bulk of its facilities be near the hospital. This also will tie into what the city is doing with the Tahoe Valley Area Plan. In that plan is a separate medical niche.

The other significant donation by Lisa Maloff came last fall when she gave Lake Tahoe Community College nearly $6 million to build the university center that will bear the Maloff name.

Maloff’s late husband, Bob, co-owned and operated Lake Tahoe Inn and Timber Cove Lodge in South Lake Tahoe. Plus, he had other significant real estate dealings. He died in 2011 at the age of 90.

Lisa Maloff, who still resides in South Lake Tahoe, was a founding member of the Barton Hospital Auxiliary. Promoting wellness, activity, and fitness in the community have long been goals of the Maloffs. Building this center will carry those beliefs further.

The donation will fund what is likely to be a two-story 25,000-square-foot orthopedic, sports performance and wellness center. Medical experts will have state-of-the-art equipment to use on patients in a coordinated, team-based approach to medical care in one location. It will also offer physical therapy, sports medicine and sports performance, and diagnosis-specific fitness and nutrition programs.

It is expected to break ground this summer and open in 2017.

A bit of irony is that South Lake Tahoe could have had a similar facility 25 years ago, but Barton said no to orthopedist Richard Steadman when he wanted to create a state-of-the-art orthopedic facility in South Lake Tahoe. He ended up doing so in 1990 in Vail, and now it is a world-renowned clinic.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report