St. Luke's plans new Miller Creek Medical Clinic

The corner of Mall Drive and Loberg Road is under quite the transformation and it's only about to become greater.

On one side Mills Fleet Farm is currently building a 200,000+ square foot retail store while near the opposite corner Holiday Inn Express and Suites is constructing a new 5 story hotel. The whole area has been pegged as "Hermantown Marketplace" by the city of Hermantown and in previous year saw the addition of HOM Furniture, DQ Grill and Chill, Subway and Volkswagon. It is expected to see the majority over Hermantown's commercial development over the next decade.

Site of the new Miller Creek Medical Clinic

St. Luke's also wants to become part of this growing area. Miller Creek Medical Clinic will move from their current location at 4884 Miller Trunk Highway near Lakes 10 theater in Hermantown to the corner of Loberg Road and Mall Drive. A new clinic will be constructed next to the Holiday Inn Express and Suites on what was the formerly the Eggebrecht Chevrolet car dealership.

We spoke with Sandy Barkley, St. Luke's Vice President of Clinic Operations, about the new Miller Creek Medical Clinic and what is in store for the project.

The new clinic is expected to open by year's end. While images are currently not available as it is still being designed by Duluth's DSGW Architects, the over all look and feel will be very similar to St. Luke's Lester River Medical Clinic. That clinic totals 9,700 square feet of space (less than half of what is planned for the new Hermantown Clinic) and was also designed by DSGW.

Lester Creek Medical Clinic | DSGW

Plans for the Hermantown clinic include a single story building that is about 20,000 square feet larger than the current Miller Creek Medical Clinic. The additional space will allow from the expansion of services currently present such as physical therapy and ophthalmology.

WHAT PROMPTED THE MOVE?

Ease of access was a large factor. The clinics current location requires patients to make a u-turn at the Stebner Road and Miller Trunk Highway intersection. While patients could easily see the clinic from the road the question often was how to get to it.

Another large factor prompting the move was simply space. As the Twin Ports has grown, especially Hermantown, the current clinic has too grown, or rather, outgrown their current space. It was the perfect time to move as the current lease of St. Luke's space is up in September 2016.

St. Luke's expects to present the project for building permits sometime in March or April with construction beginning soon after depending on the weather. The project is expected to be completed by early fall.