DMC plans $50M outpatient facility in Royal Oak

Posted on February 10, 2012

The Detroit Medical Center and its parent Vanguard Health Systems Inc. want to open a $50 million, nearly 100,000-square-foot outpatient facility for children and adults in Royal Oak, the DMC confirmed Thursday.

DMC and Vanguard are working with Royal Oak officials on the project proposed on a vacant parcel just north of Interstate 696 and between Woodward and Washington avenues and Main Street, said Lori Mouton, vice president of marketing for DMC Children’s Hospital of Michigan.

Two-thirds of the DMC Royal Oak Center would provide pediatric specialty care services, with the remaining third handling adult outpatient service, Mouton said. It would include an emergency room to treat children and adults, create about 155 jobs and add about $1 million annually to the tax rolls, she said.

“We want to be in Oakland County, and this is our first choice,” she said.

“We think this is a great spot because it’s really centrally located and accessible right off the highway.”

Last year, nearly 200,000 Oakland County residents received treatment at a DMC facility.

Royal Oak’s Downtown Development Authority owns the 4-acre parcel. There is no offer yet for the property, but the DMC is scheduled to make a presentation Wednesday to the city’s DDA, said Tim Thwing, Royal Oak’s director of planning and DDA executive director.

Construction could begin this fall if approvals are secured, according to the DMC.

The site is three miles from Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, which has an emergency room and its own children’s hospital. Beaumont declined comment.

Vanguard’s proposed investment goes beyond its pledge to spend $500 million in new DMC construction and $350 million in routine capital over five years. The DMC became part of Nashville-based Vanguard a year ago.

“In case anybody in your community was wondering about Vanguard’s commitment to the greater Detroit metropolitan marketplace, they shouldn’t be wondering anymore,” said Sheryl Skolnick, managing director of CRT Capital Group in Connecticut.

Vanguard also is spending $43.45 million on a five-story Children’s Hospital outpatient center that will open this spring across from Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit.

Skolnick expects Vanguard within five years will have built more new facilities or made acquisitions as part of its growth strategy in Metro Detroit.

“Vanguard continues to support that Children’s wants to bring outpatient specialty care close to home,” DMC’s Mouton said.

Children’s Hospital has other suburban outpatient facilities, including a building it opened in March 2008 in Clinton Township.

By Melissa Burden, Detroit News