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NILES CHARTER TOWNSHIP — Corewell Health cut the ribbon on a new facility in Niles Wednesday afternoon.

Community leaders gathered to tour the integrated care campus, enjoy food and refreshments and participate in the opening ceremony at the new building at 2002 S. 11th St. 

The 22,000 square foot facility will house several different practices and provide a variety of medical services with all-new equipment and technology under one roof, including a walk-in clinic, adult and pediatric medicine, counseling, and care provided by Spectrum Health Lakeland Ear, Nose, and Throat. Visitors will be greeted by electronic, self-check-in kiosks and finish their experience with in-room check out.

“We’re bringing primary care and some specialty services together under one roof in a beautiful, big, new modern facility, ” said Gillian Conrad, Lead Communications Specialist for Corewell Health.

The goal of co-locating primary and specialty services is to provide enhanced, coordinated care and collaboration by allowing space for more providers, more patients, and more efficiency. 

Southwestern Medical Primary Care will be housed in the facility, moving from their much older building at the same address.

“It’s a much more pleasant space for patients to spend time,” said Dr. Christopher Harvey, a pediatrics doctor and the medical director of primary care.

The new building opens on March 20th for most services, with the Spectrum Health Lakeland Ear, Nose and Throat practice moving from their location by Corewell Health Niles Hospital on March 27th. The space provides 43 exam rooms, along with three designated counseling rooms, on-site x-rays, and point of care urinalysis, blood glucose, and hemoglobin testing. The new site also includes a community room for events and a reception space that factors in patient privacy and barriers to minimize the transmission of illness.

Ground was broken in November of 2021, with a cost of $9.7 million.

During the opening ceremony, Dr. Keith Twiddy commented on the long history of Southwestern Medical Primary Care, founded in 1968 by five physicians as a small practice under the name Southwestern Medical Clinic, P.C. One of the founders, Dr. Daniel Metzger, still practices and was on hand to assist in cutting the ribbon. Throughout the speeches, the recurring themes were the dedication to the community and the improvement of medical services made possible by the upgrade.

“It is way more efficient to provide care in teams in one facility,” said Corewell Health South President, Loren Hamel. “It’s a whole new level of primary care office.”