The U-M Health System plans to build a new 320,000-square-foot health center to provide expanded primary and specialty care in the Brighton area.

The $175 million project, approved Thursday by the Board of Regents, will be built in Brighton south of Challis Road, on 32 acres owned by UMHS. The project is about three times the size of UMHS’ most recent building project in Northville.

UMHS operates three existing health centers in the Brighton area. The new building will be close to UMHS’ Brighton Health Center at 8001 Challis Road. The Kellogg Eye Center of Brighton is at 5720 Whitmore Lake Road. The Howell Pediatric and Teen Clinic is at 711 Byron Road. All of the existing facilities will remain open.

“We continue to see the number of patients visiting our clinics rise steadily, and we have reached over 2 million outpatient visits a year in our health system,” says Dr. Connie Standiford, executive medical director of Ambulatory Care Services at UMHS.

“We are working hard to continue to bring world-class medical care closer to patients in the Brighton area. The new Brighton health center will bring more than 40 University of Michigan specialty services to children and adults under one roof that is convenient and close to home for the people of Brighton and neighboring communities.”

The new facility is expected to have multiple exam and operating rooms, a pharmacy and specialty services in both pediatric and adult health care, musculoskeletal health, ophthalmology, radiology and diagnostic imaging, and pathology and comprehensive cancer services including radiation oncology.

“Demand for our high-quality care is high. Our new-patient appointment volume has increased by 38 percent in the past five years. Our goal is to increase access and make it easier for our patients to get the care they need,” says Jeanne Rizzo, Ambulatory Care executive director.

Design is scheduled to begin immediately and the university will return with a construction schedule with approval of a schematic design. The project is expected to provide about 125 on-site construction jobs and 375 medical staff positions when the center opens.

UMHS has been consistently working to improve patient access and has opened several new facilities that increased clinical capacity, including the Northville Health Center, which provides primary and specialty care closer to home for patients in metro Detroit.

UMHS also has announced plans for the construction of a 75,000-square-foot health center on the west side of Ann Arbor. That $46 million project is expected to open in 2017.

“We are excited by the opportunity to expand our services to the communities surrounding Ann Arbor and look forward to working with our new neighbors around the region,” says Rizzo. “We aim to be a provider of choice as we bring exceptional care closer to patients around the state.”

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