Detroit Medical Center Drops Plans For Royal Oak Facility

ROYAL OAK (WWJ/AP) - The Detroit Medical Center is no longer looking to build a $50 million outpatient facility in Royal Oak.

Instead, the health care provider says it plans to look for a location further north in Oakland County that would be more suitable for the facility.

A year ago, DMC officials unveiled renderings of a building for doctor offices and a free-standing emergency department. The 100,000-sq. ft. facility would have been built on the south end of Royal Oak, near I-696 and Woodward. The project was expected to create 155 full-time jobs and add $1.1 million to Royal Oak's tax base.

David Manardo, the DMC's senior vice president of facility engineering and real estate, said the 4.4-acre location was good but the price didn't work.

"It came back 50 percent higher than what we thought the property was worth," Manardo told The Daily Tribune.

Luanne Ewald, the DMC's vice president of business development, said the medical center is now looking for about six to ten acres of land for the project, or an existing building it can repurpose.

The city's Downtown Development Authority, is now looking for new ideas for the site, which is near the Detroit Zoo.

"Everyone has been thinking this land is tied up with the DMC but it's not," Royal Oak Planning Director Tim Thwing told The Daily Tribune. "We'll see what proposals we get back."

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