Healthcare : Development News

An effort to increase Pontiac residents' access to fresh, healthy foods is spreading in Oakland County with the opening of a third goverment-run market.

The newest market will operate one day a week on Tuesdays and sell fresh fruits and vegetables at a low cost.

The markets are a project of the Healthy Pontiac We Can! Coalition and the Oakland Livingston Human Service Agency.

Two other markets sell on Fridays and Saturdays, and all three share recipes for meals using fresh foods, lead cooking demonstrations and offer free samples.

"This market is a part of Oakland County's strategy to improve the quality of life of our residents through healthier lifestyles," says Kathy Forzley, Oakland County Health Division manager and health officer. "Consuming a diet high in fruits and vegetables decreases the risk of many chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes and some cancers."

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Kathy Forzley, Oakland County Health Division

A $20-million health wing has opened on Oakland Community College's Southfield campus, and it goes into operation as the school experiences triple digit enrollment growth in health-related studies.

The new campus facility - along with building changes and improvements - is an attempt to keep up with increasing demand for skilled health care workers.

The Southfield campus is the smallest of OCC's five campuses, and it is the site of many of OCC's health and science programs, including health care administration, nuclear medicine, various medical therapies, nursing, surgical technology and other health and medical specialties.

Many of the courses are taught in tandem with courses at the Royal Oak campus. With 78,000 undergraduates enrolled on OCC's five campuses, it is Michigan's largest community college system.

 The Southfield campus was designed for a capacity of 2,500 students, but in the winter of 2012 there were 4,912 students attending. The new wing adds more than 69,000 square feet to the Southfield campus, or an increase of 75 percent.

Ground for the new health sciences wing was broken in 2009, and in that time enrollment soared college wide, most especially in health studies at Southfield and Royal Oak. In the area of allied health, there has been 131 percent increase in enrollment during the past 10 years.

“These are exciting yet challenging times for the college [as] we continue to keep our promise to provide learning for all who enter our doors.  We are committed to maintaining an institution that serves the future of the community and also aids the economic recovery of our region.  The Southfield Campus expansion is a large step in this direction,” OCC chancellor Timothy Meyer says in a statement announcing the opening.

The health wing, a $20 million project originally priced at more than $25 - was mostly paid for by a millage approved by Oakland County voters in 2010.

Aspects of the new wing include additional biology, chemistry, anatomy and physiology labs, bringing the campus total to eight, a surgical technology lecture lab, where surgery is replicated. There are also new double classrooms, nursing labs and new rooms for studying as well as a new student activities center, physical education classes and workforce development workspaces where students can learn about internship, co-op ed programs and other workplace opportunities.

Source: Selvia Hines, administrative assistant, marketing and communications department, Oakland Community College
Writer: Kim North Shine

DMC Children's Hospital of Michigan is proposing a $50 million health care facility in Royal Oak that would bring it closer to many of its suburban patients, who in turn, could bring business to downtown Royal Oak businesses.

The DMC Royal Oak Center for Children and Adults would be built on one of metro Detroit's most prominent vacant plots of land - a parcel on the north side of I-696, across from the Detroit Zoo, between Woodward Avenue and Main Street.

The proposed center would offer higher level pediatric specialty care such as neurology, as well as a 24-hour emergency room geared toward children but for open to all ages. About 25 percent of the center would be dedicated to adult specialists, says Luanne Thomas Ewald, vice president of business development at Children's Hospital of Michigan.

The new center, nearly 100,000 square feet, would be built on land that's basically Royal Oak's most major entry point.

"In our development of what the design would be we kept in mind this would be the gateway to Royal Oak," Thomas Ewald says. "So it has to look like Royal Oak, not be something all modern…It has to be representative of Royal Oak."

The success of a similar center, one about half the size and in Clinton Township, prompted the decision to look into further suburban expansion, Thomas Ewald says.

There are still many issues to be resolved before construction can begin, including reaching an agreement on the price to purchase the land from the city. DMC and the city are obtaining their own appraisals and will discuss the value over the next few weeks. The target construction date is late fall 2012, and if all goes as planned, construction would last 12 to 18 months for an opening in 2014, Thomas Ewald says.

About 155 full-time jobs - doctors, nurses, x-ray techs, security personnel, etc. - would be created, she says.

"Obviously we're looking at where our current patients are coming from and trying to put our sites where the majority of our population lives," Thomas Ewald says. "And the economic benefit is an extra."

Source: Luanne Thomas Ewald, vice president of business development, Children's Hospital of Michigan
Writer: Kim North Shine

The University of Michigan Health System is opening a health care center in Northville Township, calling it an "area of growth and vitality in Michigan."

The $39-million project was approved in January. The opening date for the center, which will be located near 7 Mile and Haggerty roads, will come sometime in 2014. It will be near the Livonia Center for Specialty Care, creating something of a heath care complex.

The new center will be 100,000 square feet of doctors' offices and specialized practices for adults and children. While exact plans won't start to be laid out until March, there is expected to be a musculoskeletal program for advanced care of bones, joints and muscles. In addition, radiology services, infusion treatments for cancer and non-cancer patients, and other medical services are planned.

The idea is to make care more convenient and closer to home for patients treated at U-M's hospitals in Ann Arbor and also to extend the U-M health system's reach into southeast Michigan.

Source: Shantell Kirkendoll, senior public relations representative, University of Michigan Health System
Writer: Kim North Shine

Wyandotte's Biddle Avenue, the main street through its downtown, will see much more traffic -- and potential customers -- when a medical office building opens on a two-acre piece of land that's long been the site of vacant and blighted properties.

The two-story, minimum 22,000-square-foot medical and professional building will be located at 2070 Biddle Ave. and be largely connected with Henry Ford Health Systems. The project received approval from the Michigan Economic Growth Authority on Tuesday. The approval was required as the city has declared the plot of land a brownfield redevelopment project eligible for tax relief for developers, who will invest $4 million in the project.

The project, which will create 44 permanent jobs and bring business and new tax revenue, is the culmination of five years of work by the city, which painstakingly acquired properties so that something more substantial could take their place. The city has spent $1.6 million on the project in order to bring about a development that would generate local taxes for the city, schools, county and state. There have been nearly 30 structures on the plot of land since 1912, including single family homes, a gas station and a commercial print facility.

It is unclear when construction will start and end.


Source: Michigan Economic Growth Authority
Writer: Kim North Shine

An eyesore of a hospital that once was the lifeblood of downtown Trenton is coming back to life in the form of a new medical center.

The nearly 10-acre property on the bank of the Detroit River is called Riverside Commons, and it will pump $12 million in new investment into Trenton and bring 163 permanent, full-time jobs when it opens, according to the Michigan Economic Growth Authority. It has approved a request from the Trenton Brownfield Redevelopment Authority to capture $2,224,250 in school and local taxes for the project.

Riverside Commons is moving into a refurbished building that housed Henry Ford Hospital, which closed in 2002 and "has become something of an eyesore," city administrator Bob Cady says.

Construction is expected to begin within days and will lead to a new exterior and renovation of the interior, including removal of asbestos. An opening date has not been set.

Riverside Commons will include doctors' offices on the front side, a rehabilitation facility in the center, and senior housing or eldercare to the rear of the property, on the riverfront. There may also be a teaching component for respiratory therapy students, Cady says.

A few years ago the city invested about $2 million in improvements to downtown that make it more attractive and easier to navigate for pedestrians and drivers.

"It's our hope that this will help our downtown area with the jobs that will be created and the traffic that will be generated," he says. "It could be a real shot in the arm for downtown."

Source: Bob Cady, city administrator, city of Trenton
Writer: Kim North Shine

Beaumont Hospital and the Neighborhood Club in Grosse Pointe are entering the home stretch of a project to build a Community, Recreation and Wellness Center, just off the Village business district in the city's downtown.

Ground will be broken on the two-story building June 23. Demolition is expected in July with construction to begin by the end of summer. The plan is to open by January 2013, says Joan Phillips, vice president and chief nurse executive for integrated health services at Beaumont Hospitals.

The project has been in the planning stages since 2008.

"There's a lot of excitement about this," Phillips says.

The center will include a five-lane, warm water lap pool, a children's pool, and a fitness center, which will be integrated with adult physical therapy. There will also be sports medicine programming and athletic enhancement training as well as body mechanics for hobbies such as gardening.

Beaumont will offer adult physical therapy and a pediatric therapy center at the facility. Physical, occupational, speech and other forms of therapy will be provided. One special feature is the Center for Human Development, which provides services to children from birth to adulthood.

"It's really nice because in the past our services have all been separate," she adds. All services will be combined in a pediatric friendly environment. The Neighborhood Club will continue to run its preschool at the facility.

"It will be a chance for the children at the Center for Human Development to interact with children of normal development," she says.

All features of the center are specific to the missions of Beaumont and the Neighborhood Club, which as been the center of recreational youth sports for youth, an activity center for adults, and a source of education and enrichment in numerous topics for 100 years.

The center could be a boon to a downtown that lost one of its largest anchor tenants when Borders closed earlier this year and one of its oldest establishments, Cavanaugh's, a stationery and gift shop, closed last month. The Village, however, is seeing new life in a pizza restaurant that focuses on healthful selections and expanded outdoor seating at two of its restaurants.

Source: Joan Phillips, vice president and chief nurse executive for integrated health services at Beaumont Hospitals
Writer: Kim North Shine

Business is going so well for Lighthouse Molding, Inc. that it's moved from a mere 1,300 square feet of space in Sterling Heights into a 16,000-square-foot facility in the same city.

The 5-year-old advanced manufacturing company makes environmentally-friendly packaging for electronic assemblies. Their packaging, commonly known in the business as low pressure molding, provides a barrier for electronic assemblies from water, dirt, dust, vibrations, and other enemies of electronic machinery.

With two big contracts coming up later this year, one with automotive, the other a consumer product, the company needed more space and will hire 15-18 employees to do the work, says Lighthouse Molding President Scott Lowes. The company currently has six employees.

"We need this big facility to handle the growth," says Lowes.

He has a background in traditional moldings, but became hooked on Lighthouse's innovative process when he saw its potential to benefit customers.

He says when new equipment is done and other changes made by year's end, the company will have invested at least $100,000.

Source: Scott Lowes, president, Lighthouse Moldings
Writer: Kim North Shine

They built it and they're coming. The Dearborn Town Center, an urban redevelopment that opened last December on the site of the vacant Montgomery Ward's department store in east Dearborn, the city's downtown, is attracting new tenants and customers, bringing on a revival as hoped.

"There's been a significant uptick in business there," says Melissa Kania, director of the East Dearborn Downtown Development Authority. "There is so much interest there."

The main tenants of the Dearborn Town Center at the corner of Schaefer and Michigan Roads are the Oakwood Health System and Midwest Health and their 500 employees. The Kresge Eye Institute is located there as well.

Since then, the center has spun off eating establishments, coffee shops, and more to the 162,000 feet of office and retail space that was to be used just for that, Kania says.

This summer comes the downtown's first parking deck, one outfitted with energy efficient lighting and car-charging stations. With plans for public artwork through the Midwest Sculpture Initiative and plans to create an artists' live, work, and sell space, Kania says, "we feel like so many great things will keep happening to attract more and more people to Dearborn."

Source: Melissa Kania, director of the East Dearborn Downtown Development Authority
Writer: Kim North Shine

Rochester Hills is now home to a new $20 million health and wellness center that will offer not only the obvious, medical treatment and therapy to patients, but also a workout facility, massage therapies, tai chi, yoga, personal training and numerous other healthy lifestyle services to patients, employees and the general public.

It will also add jobs to the local economy and could even spur development.

The three-story, 98,000-square-foot Beaumont Health & Wellness Center sits on 6.5 acres near M-59, on South Boulevard between Dequindre and John R. roads. A 45,000-square-foot Sola Life & Fitness is the centerpiece of the facility. Sola, the first tenant, offers an indoor track, exercise areas for individuals and classes, a four-lane lap pool, therapy tubs, sauna, and steam room.

Surrounding Sola are several medical practices, including the Center for Pain Medicine, a rehabilitation services and integrative medicine practice, and an MRI testing unit, which is coming this summer. As a whole the Health & Wellness Center is meant to be a place to treat illness and injuries whiley keeping people strong and healthy through exercise and education.

The center is open to Beaumont patients, employees, and the general public and is competitively priced to other fitness centers, says Eric Hunter, senior vice president for administration services.

"Certainly the medical-based follow-up and return to health and staying healthy is a big theme," Hunt says. "But it's also about exercise for our employees to stay healthy and for the general public."

The Beaumont Health and Wellness Center -- a concept that is expected to spread here -- is the longtime aspiration of Beaumont CEO Gene Michalski, who was introduced to the usefulness of a wellness center while working for a hospital near Chicago, Hunt says. Landmark Healthcare Facilities and Dr. Richard Easton, director of spine surgery at Beaumont collaborated on the project, which could also act as an economic stimulator.

Besides the $20 million investment in the center, new employees have been hired and more development may follow. Of about 60 employees, probably 60 percent of them are new hires, and the other 40 percent transferred from other Beaumont operations, Hunt says.

"We think this number will grow over time," he says.

Around the Beaumont Health & Wellness Center is vacant, development-ready land. The possibility of the center attracting hundreds, if not thousands, of people each day (Sola has 1,400 members already), could be a magnet for new developments.

"Who knows, maybe a little medical row," Hunt suggests. "This has been in the cooker for quite awhile. We're very happy to get this off the ground."

Source: Eric Hunt, Beaumont Hospital's senior vice president of administration services
Writer: Kim North Shine