Seavest, Kirco Invest in MOB Conversion for Ford

DEARBORN, MI-New York City-based Seavest Inc. and Troy-based Kirco have formed a joint venture to convert a former headquarters facility into medical office building. The venture purchased the 140,000-square-foot former Visteon headquarters at 5500 Auto Club Dr. here in March, and has leased about 66,000 square feet to Henry Ford Health System.

The regional system, founded by automotive icon Henry Ford in 1915, operates an outpatient facility at Henry Ford Medical Center – Fairlane. The property is the system’s busiest ambulatory center, with about 350,000 patient visits and about 62,000 emergency room visits annually. Expansion was considered for the facility, but the property is landlocked and a new site was too expensive, says Douglas Ray, president of Seavest.

Instead, the health system agreed to lease almost half of the Visteon HQ, and will invest $11 million to expand outpatient services there. Visteon, a former supplier arm of the Ford automotive empire based in Dearborn, reorganized under bankruptcy and moved to Van Buren Township, MI in 2005.

Some of the outpatient services currently offered by the Fairlane center will be moved to this facility, including optometry/ophthalmology, pediatrics, women’s health and physical therapy.

Ray says other medical tenants have signed leases as well at the three-story building, though it is not fully occupied.

He says this lease was a much cheaper option than building a new medical facility. “It’s a lot easier to rip out the insides of this building and start over,” Ray tells GlobeSt.com. “The hospital is looking at less costly ways of solving real estate needs, as well as serve a goal to get out more into the community.”

Ray says along with the resurgence of the automotive markets, Detroit also boasts a large health care market. “Though the city has contracted considerably, as we saw in the 2010 Census, the suburban market is still very large and vibrant,” he says. “We’ve studied the area, and we see revitalization. Detroit has seen its worst times.”