The University of Michigan is opening its $132 million Brehm Tower, an addition to the W.K. Kellogg Eye Center, on Monday.

Photo courtesy of University of Michigan

The University of Michigan will welcome patients Monday to its new 8-story, 230,000-square-foot, $132 million eye care and diabetes research and clinical complex, officials announced today.

The moment marks the culmination of a W.K. Kellogg Eye Center expansion project approved by the U-M Board of Regents in July 2005. Construction started in September 2006.

The expansion is called the Brehm Tower, a Wall Street facility whose presence notably alters the skyline of U-M's massive medical campus in central Ann Arbor.

The university said in a statement it plans to add about 100 jobs at the Kellogg Eye Center over the next five to seven years to meet increased demand and staff its new capacity.

U-M said the new tower, which provides 50 percent more space than the university had for similar work before, includes:

• Seven eye care clinics with new suites to house refractive and cosmetic surgery.
• New labs designed to house research for the Brehm Center for Diabetes Research.
• Larger waiting areas, spacious clinical areas and additional exam rooms.

"While today, many patients travel to see Kellogg specialists, we will soon have the capacity to serve many more individuals who seek a destination for advanced eye care," Paul R. Lichter, chair of U-M's Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, wrote in a winter newsletter. "With additional laboratories, we will add new research faculty to join current faculty in their dedicated search for cures to eye disease. For residents and fellows, the Eye Center will be the ultimate teaching laboratory, where trainees will experience the newest ophthalmological techniques and knowledge."

The tower is named after Virginia couple Delores S. and William K. Brehm, who donated $44 million to U-M in November 2004. Some $30 million of that was dedicated for this project, U-M said in 2005.

U-M's Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences raised $10 million in donations to support the expansion, and U-M provided funding from the accounts of the U-M Hospitals and Health Centers.

The Kellogg Eye Center had about 78,313 outpatient visitors in 2009, up from 36,852 in 1985, U-M said.

The university plans to celebrate the expansion in April with tours, a dedication ceremony and appearances from National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins and National Eye Institute Director Paul A. Sieving.

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