.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Ladco Development Inc., Mercy Medical Center and the YMCA of Greater Des Moines are developing a comprehensive wellness campus in Clive.

The 24-acre site, at the corner of 128th Street and University Avenue next to the water tower, will house five medical office buildings along with a wellness center that will be operated by the YMCA. The entire 271,000-square-foot campus will be devoted to wellness programs, among them an expansion of Mercy’s cancer center and a new location for the hospital’s sleep disorders center. The anticipated cost of the entire project is between $70 million and $80 million. Ladco will own the buildings and lease them to Mercy and the YMCA.

Ladco President Jon Garnaas said the concept for a wellness campus came about through a discussion with a physician friend, Dr. Rick Rinehart.

“We started talking about medical-based fitness, healthy lifestyles and healthy living,” Garnaas said. “Rick had belonged to a medical-based fitness facility where he previously lived in Illinois. We went to Illinois and toured some of the facilities he had been involved with, and we came back with that concept.”

Garnaas approached Mercy, whose officials were receptive to the idea.

“We think it’s a unique approach to marrying clinical care with health and wellness, and creating that total package for healthier living for people and their families,” said Joe LeValley, Mercy’s senior vice president for planning and system development. “This is really a convergence of needs and opportunities from a number of directions that have come together to deliver this tremendous step forward in what we’re able to deliver to patients and families.”

Construction on the first building, which will house the cancer center, is expected to be completed next summer, with the entire campus to be completed by spring 2009.

Working with the city of Clive and the state of Iowa, Ladco arranged the relocation of an Iowa Department of Transportation truck service center that had been located at the site to Grimes, and reached an agreement with the city to develop a professional office campus.

Ladco purchased 18 acres from the Iowa DOT more than four years ago, and subsequently bought an adjoining six-acre lot from Bob Eddy, a private landowner, about a year and a half ago. Final approval of the site plan and other development details are pending with the Clive City Council.

Ladco will receive a 10-year tax abatement on the buildings, which was part of the 28E agreement it reached with the city to relocate the state facility. The abatement will begin at 100 percent and be reduced each year until the structures are fully taxable in the 10th year.

The design calls for surrounding the buildings with fountains, ponds and more than 700 trees, with a one-mile walking trail connecting the campus. Overall, 55 percent of the campus will be green space.

“That’s very consistent with what we’ve been trying to accomplish with creating healing environments,” LeValley said. “The environment in which they receive services does make a difference in their health care. The green space is one aspect of that, as well as the ease of access, ease of parking, the whole experience.”

For example, patients receiving radiation therapy services at the cancer center normally need to make numerous visits over several weeks, so a more welcoming environment can really make a difference to them and their families, he said. Additionally, all of the services that might be needed by the patient, including access to the wellness center, will be available on one campus, he said.

Vernon Delpesce, president and chief executive officer of the YMCA of Greater Des Moines, said his organization is excited to be able to work in cooperation with the health-care community.

“We have a lot of great fitness and wellness programs, but we know we can have a greater impact if we’re integrated with the health-care community that will help guide us and individuals as they seek counsel from their physicians,” he said.

The YMCA and Mercy are still working out details for an agreement, Delpesce said. Though it will be working closely with Mercy and its programs, the wellness center will be open to the entire community, he said. The people served by the center could include someone who is just beginning a walking program at one end of the spectrum, to someone who is training for the Hy-Vee Triathlon at the other end, he said.

“Our goal is to work with the physicians to provide the best programming that we possibly can, and hopefully provide a preventive model,” he said. “It will be much more focused on wellness programs than our other facilities. There won’t be swimming lessons; there won’t be a gymnasium.”

LeValley said the project has no direct connection with the Mercy West Lakes Hospital project, which is being built nearby as a replacement for its Mercy Capitol complex that it plans to close.

“We do have the good fortune that this campus will be right across the street from the hospital campus,” he said. “So in terms of proximity and opportunities that may create, that is certainly there.”

Though the wellness campus was not part of the hospital’s long-range Mercy Momentum plan, it represents “a convergence of needs and opportunities from a number of directions that have come together to deliver this tremendous step forward in what we’re able to deliver to patients and families,” LeValley said.