Froedtert Health plans to open a significant primary and specialty care health center in the Drexel Town Square development in Oak Creek.
“The Froedtert commitment signals that this is a first-class, quality development,” said Oak Creek Mayor Steve Scaffidi.
Froedtert will lease part of a 125,000- to 150,000-square-foot health care and fitness facility that Chicago-based HSA Commercial Real Estate plans to build at the Drexel Town Square project, said Jerry Franke, president of Wispark LLC, which is the lead developer for Drexel Town Square. At full build-out the Froedtert facility will have about 250 employees, Franke said.
The three- to four-story building will also have a fitness center run by a separate operator, which Franke declined to name. The facility will also have a parking structure, he said.
Drexel Town Square is the mixed-use development under construction at the 85-acre former Delphi plant site southwest of Howell and Drexel avenues in Oak Creek. The project will create a downtown for Oak Creek and will include a new City Hall and library, a town square, a mixed-use Main Street, apartments, restaurants, a four-story Four Points by Sheraton hotel and a big box Meijer store. Wispark LLC is leading a team of developers for the project.
The health care facility will be built at the northwest corner of the Drexel Town Square site by Chicago-based HSA Commercial Real Estate and it will be leased by Froedtert, Scaffidi said. Other details of the project are still being developed, he said.
“(The Froedtert facility) is the last big piece of the puzzle (for the Drexel Town Square project),” Scaffidi said.
Medical office space was always planned for Drexel Town Square, but the Froedtert facility “dwarfs what I had in mind,” Franke said.
The Froedtert facility demonstrates that Drexel Town Square is more than a retail development, Franke said.
“This (project has) a number of different activities that draw traffic,” he said.
The new health center will become part of the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network.
“We’re pleased to be invited by the city of Oak Creek to be part of this exciting new downtown development,” Cathy Jacobson, president and chief executive officer of Froedtert Health, said in a statement. “Our plans are in the early stages, but I can say with complete confidence that we’re committed to providing health care services that respond to the needs and preferences of this community.”
Much of the Drexel Town Square project is under construction and the Meijer store, the City Hall/library building and a Water Street Brewery restaurant are expected to open by the end of the year, Scaffidi said. Construction will begin on other parts of the project this year including the hotel, apartments and the Main Street area.
Construction of the health care facility is expected to begin this year and take about two years to complete, Franke said.
The Froedtert facility will bring a significant number of high-paying jobs to the Drexel Town Square site, which should help attract additional retail and restaurant tenants, Scaffidi said.
“We think (the Froedtert facility) will raise the interest level for a few of the other parcels,” he said.
Wispark has been holding a few of the outlots back waiting for the Froedtert announcement, which should help attract more interest, Franke said.
