National healthcare real estate developer NexCore Group and Banner Health gathered recently in Glendale for the grand opening celebration of Banner Health’s newest multispecialty health center.
The three-story, 128,413-square-foot Banner Health Center plus is the health system’s largest such facility to date. It is located at 7701 W. Aspera Blvd. on a portion of 17.5 acres owned by Banner Health in the Aspera mixed-use development near the Agua Fria Loop 101 Freeway and 75th Avenue in Glendale, a northwest Phoenix suburb.
Speaking at the Apr. 22 grand opening celebration, Todd Varney, chief development officer and managing partner of Denver-based NexCore, said the development of the new facility in partnership with Banner has been a great process from beginning to end. Banner Health Center plus will bring advanced healthcare services together in one convenient location.
“The beneficiary is the community, the patients, those that walk through the doors. This is a place of healing and we appreciate everyone including Banner Health, the community leaders, our partners Haydon Building Corporation and SmithGroup, and our team that have created this great environment for health, wellness and the community coming together for advanced healthcare,” Mr. Varney said.
“Banner Health Center plus is more than just a new building. It represents an integrated approach to providing healthcare services. Everything is in one place that spans more than 128,00 square feet:” said Becky Kuhn, chief operating officer, Banner Health. “family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics, more than a dozen medical and surgical specialties, advanced imaging including MRI and CT technologies, a retail pharmacy, a lab, community classrooms and several hundred Banner team members all working together seamlessly and hassle-free for our customers.”
Banner Health selected NexCore’s team in a competitive request for proposal (RFP) process for Banner Health Center plus, citing the firm’s understanding of ambulatory facilities and clinical operations, as well as its willingness to collaborate and configure the building in innovative, creative ways.
Some of those unique and innovative features include an “on-stage/off-stage” configuration, in which patients have access to public areas and exam rooms, while health center staff use “behind-the-scenes” hallways, meeting rooms and collaborative spaces not visible to the public. Patients benefit from this streamlined design because its saves time and reduces walking distances, and staff benefits because it provides them with private space for communication and collaboration, as well as ready access to patients and exam rooms.
NexCore also added efficiency to the facility by leading a Lean design initiative to revise the Banner model’s clinical POD configurations, creating shared staff and spaces between specific service lines, and changing the building stacking from a two-story to a three-story building. The result incorporated the entire original program and configured clinics into 10 universal PODs in less overall square footage.
Adding to the efficiency and innovation of the building are the attractive benefits to patients and staff, including easy access; a sleek and modern design that emphasizes site wayfinding to ease patient anxiety; full height glazing in patient waiting areas to maximize daylight and connection to mountain views, and a covered canopy patient drop-off area.
In addition to NexCore and Banner, the project team included architecture firm SmithGroup and contractor Haydon Building Construction. Mr. Varney says the team’s synergy fostered an efficient and cooperative working relationship with the City of Glendale and smooth workflow as the Banner Health Center plus was constructed, as well as an efficient project timeline. This cooperative spirit allowed NexCore and the project team to rapidly moved from concept to groundbreaking on Feb. 22, 2020, in less than eight months, and the ensuing construction phase to grand opening was accomplished in an impressive 14 months.
“Throughout this project, everyone involved displayed a strong commitment toward bringing this excellent outpatient center to this appreciative and welcoming community. As I’ve said before, this is one of the faster, more embracing endeavors we’ve done,” Mr. Varney remarked.
Banner Health Center plus features 128 exam rooms and 13 imaging rooms; its 45 physicians offer comprehensive clinical services designed with a focus on customer convenience, including family medicine, pediatrics, orthopedics, general surgery, dermatology, gastroenterology, cardiology, endocrinology, internal medicine and OB/GYN. The facility also offers lab, pharmacy and advanced CT and MRI imaging services, plus a wellness trail around the site for patients and staff.
With the completion of the Banner Health Center plus project, NexCore has now developed, leased and/or owned more than 1 million square feet of healthcare facilities in Arizona.
For more information on Banner Health Center plus, please visit https://www.bannerhealth.com/locations/glendale/banner-health-center-plus-glendale
For a video of the Banner Health Center plus grand opening ceremony, please visit
https://vimeo.com/542441496/aa16c3688a