University of Michigan regents have signed off on spending up to $110 million to build two new interconnected medical facilities in Troy, a cardiovascular center and an advanced imaging center, that will sit beside a specialty care campus already rising on the former Kmart headquarters site. The vote came at the Board of Regents meeting on Oct. 16, setting in motion the next phase of Michigan Medicine's push to bring more of its Ann Arbor-caliber care into Oakland County.
The two new buildings, the Samuel and Jean Frankel Cardiovascular Center and the Sidney and Madeline Forbes Advanced Imaging Center, will be constructed on roughly five acres near the Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg Troy Center for Specialty Care, according to a University of Michigan report. The land for the project was donated anonymously, and Sidney and Madeline Forbes made a lead gift toward construction of the imaging center that bears their name, per the same report. Michigan Medicine separately purchased 7.28 acres of vacant land at the old Kmart headquarters site for the broader clinical campus, according to Michigan Medicine.
The Eisenberg Troy Center for Specialty Care, a four-story outpatient building, is under construction and slated to open in spring 2027. As of an August report, WXYZ found the building was 60 percent complete and on track for a late-spring 2027 opening. Michigan Medicine says the campus will bring its clinical quality and expertise closer to home for patients in and around Oakland County, the station reported.
Two Buildings, Two Timelines, One Conflicting Date
Michigan Medicine lists the Frankel Cardiovascular Center and Forbes Advanced Imaging Center as scheduled to open in fall 2027, per the health system's own project page. WXYZ, however, described the planned 74,000-square-foot cardiovascular and imaging center as expected to open at the end of 2027, a separate framing from the health system's fall 2027 timeline. A more recent WXYZ report pegged the new cardiovascular and advanced imaging center's opening even further out, to late 2027 or early 2028.
Once open, the Frankel Cardiovascular Center will offer preventive and general cardiology along with diagnostic services including electrocardiograms, stress testing, echocardiograms and vascular lab work, according to Michigan Medicine. The seed reporting adds that the center will also provide heart rhythm management and cardiac rehabilitation. Next door, the Forbes Advanced Imaging Center will handle interventional radiology procedures and cross-sectional ultrasound work, per the same Michigan Medicine project page, along with what WXYZ describes as advanced imaging technology and access to expert radiology care.
Why Michigan Medicine Is Betting Big on Troy
The expansion is meant to help patients who otherwise have to make the drive to Ann Arbor. About 200,000 patients travel there for care every year, according to WXYZ's reporting, and the Troy campus is intended to increase access for those who cannot make that trip, per the University of Michigan report. Julie Ishak, president of U-M Health's academic medical center, said patients will be able to get cardiovascular care and advanced imaging at the new center, according to WXYZ. Michigan Medicine CEO Ganesh Palapattu framed the project around what it will make possible for patients and families, the station reported, and local officials have cast the broader development as another major addition to Michigan Medicine's presence in Oakland County.
Nate Forbes, managing partner of the Forbes Company, which owns the Somerset Collection, said the project extends care closer to the patient base, per WXYZ. His family has partnered with Michigan Medicine on the project, and the health system named the imaging center for Sidney and Madeline Forbes in recognition of the family's support. The Troy center has also been described as an anchor tenant meant to help support the Somerset Collection and extend the Forbes name beyond its traditional footprint near I-275, according to Hour Detroit.
A Long-Vacant Site Finally in Motion
The Kmart headquarters site sat vacant for years before Michigan Medicine and its partners began building there, and nearby residents have said they welcome the investment and transformation of the property, according to WXYZ. Sarah Sundareson, a 50-year Troy resident, told the station that having the facility nearby would be nice. Troy Mayor Ethan Baker said the construction project has moved quickly, beautifully and efficiently, adding that its continued growth is wonderful, per WXYZ. City officials have said future discussions will include housing, retail and restaurant development surrounding the site, the station reported.
That fits into a far larger vision for the roughly 40-acre former Kmart headquarters property, which could eventually include up to 750 housing units, a 250-room hotel, 300,000 square feet of retail space and 500,000 square feet of office space, according to the Detroit Free Press. A Troy council member has described the overall approved project as a way to help revitalize the Big Beaver corridor, per C&G News. The Troy Center for Specialty Care itself sits on seven acres of a larger 28-acre planned unit development that also includes commercial and residential components, according to Hobbs+Black, the project's architecture firm.
Community leaders, project partners and residents recently gathered to celebrate a construction milestone by signing the final steel beam, which will become part of the building's frame, WXYZ reported. The Eisenberg Center's construction is also being financed in part by a $40 million gift from the Eisenberg Foundation, with $25 million of that designated specifically for construction, according to Michigan Medicine. When finished, the Troy campus will join Corewell Health and the Detroit Medical Center's Children's Hospital facility already operating in the city, per The Detroit News, adding another major health system to Troy's growing medical corridor.
