IHA moving forward with plans to construct new office building at Domino's Farms
IHA is looking to construct a new building at Domino's Farms Office Park in Ann Arbor Township.
AnnArbor.com files
IHA, which is already headquartered in Domino’s Farms Office Park, entered preliminary discussions with the township earlier this year to construct a 42,000-square-foot office building on an undeveloped portion of Domino’s Farms.
To accommodate IHA’s proposal, the Ann Arbor Township Board of Trustees approved an amendment to the Domino’s Farms Office Park Area Plan at its May 21 meeting to raise the allowable height of buildings by 5 feet, said Township Supervisor Mike Moran.
“In the office park, there’s a limit on the height of buildings, which is basically 35 feet,” he said. “(IHA’s) position was that modern medical buildings need slightly more height than that because of the amount of equipment needed.”
He added: “They wanted permission to design a building that was up to 40 feet tall.”
IHA, formed in 1994, has 32 offices with 156 physicians and 727 staff members serving more than 260,000 patients. Novi-based Catholic health care group Trinity Health’s St. Joseph Mercy Health System acquired IHA in 2010.
The group already occupies about 31,000 square feet in Domino’s Farms for its administrative offices. Domino’s Farms director John Petz said in an email the new building would be used as an out-patient clinical office and would not affect its current administrative space.
The next step for IHA is to submit a site plan to the township, which the group intends to do in the next couple months, said IHA Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Lowell Sprague.
Domino’s Farms Office Park is located on 270 acres between Plymouth Road and M-14 on the east side of US-23. Developed by Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, the office park has nearly 1 million square feet of office space with enough land to continue development on the property.
Lizzy Alfs is a business reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at 734-623-2584 or email her at lizzyalfs@annarbor.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lizzyalfs.
Comments
Evergreen
Fri, May 25, 2012 : 11:14 a.m.
IHA should not consider investing any more money in health care. There attitude is terrible, service worse, and they have bankers hours so be careful when you get sick or hurt yourself. The Milan IHA is only a couple years old so it's not about having a nice building. It's about people care and more importantly just caring!
a2xarob
Thu, May 24, 2012 : 2:12 p.m.
I do not see how this indicates that IHA will be adding staff with this move. More likely, by consolidating offices that are now spread out, they will be able to reduce some of their administrative staff. Also, I see this as a move to compete directly with the U of M out-patient clinics at Dominos and right across Plymouth Rd. at U of M's other outpatient clinics. Unnecessary duplication of services is one of the things that makes our health care costs so high. Do not think that because IHA will probably be laying off staff once they consolidate offices that they will be lowering their rates. In health care, competition never seems to mean lower costs to the consumer.
Michigan Man
Thu, May 24, 2012 : 1:45 p.m.
Nice job IHA! Keeping growing, adding more good jobs to the local economy and improving access to high quality medical/clinical resources for the Ann Arbor area.
A2comments
Thu, May 24, 2012 : 12:27 p.m.
I suspect that when this is completed we will see IHA move out of numerous facilities in the area where they occupy small spaces. For example, they have a facility at 2090 Commonwealth, just over a mile from Domino Farms. They also have a Pediatric facility at 3055 Plymouth Rd, just a few blocks further. Having more under one roof would bring great economies of scale for them.
Swordsman
Thu, May 24, 2012 : 11:57 a.m.
More traffic woes....
A2comments
Thu, May 24, 2012 : 12:28 p.m.
For medical offices in Domino Farms?