They say they don’t know much about business. But for the seven doctors of the Iowa Digestive Disease Center, buying a parcel of land along the University Avenue “medical mile” that straddles Clive and West Des Moines seemed like a pretty good bet.

By next spring, the medical practice, now located at 2600 Grand Ave. in Des Moines, plans to open a new 20,000-square-foot office building at 1378 N.W. 124th St. in Clive, just behind Boston’s the Gourmet Pizza Restaurant and Sports Bar off University Avenue.

“Owning a building will be a completely new endeavor for us,” said Dr. Michael O’Brien, one of the physicians of the group, which has leased its current fourth-floor suite since 1987. The doctors decided to buy the land a few years ago, before they had made a decision about moving.

“It seemed reasonable that if we decided to do something else, at least we wouldn’t lose money on the land,” he said. O’Brien estimated the total project cost at about $6 million.

O’Brien said he and his partners also considered locations close to the hospitals just north of downtown, and because of their existing certificate of need with the state were required to remain in Polk County. In the end, using their land within the growing medical cluster that already includes six major outpatient clinics made the most sense, he said.

“A lot of our practice is becoming more outpatient-based,” he said. “I think that’s why so much is happening out there on that medical mile.”

The ground floor of the two-story building will house the Iowa Endoscopy Center, a corporation owned by the partners in which they perform colonoscopies and upper endoscopies. Their physician practice will be located on the upper floor.

“A lot of what’s driving this is the demand for colon cancer screening,” O’Brien said. “Katie Couric with NBC has been one of the real advocates for getting colon cancer screening. At least at this point in time, the most accurate way to do that is with a colonoscopy. So there’s been an increased demand on our practice to do these procedures.”

The larger facility will provide more waiting room space for patients and family members, as well as increased privacy for patients, he said.

“We’re hoping we can expand on the success we’ve had here, and have better privacy and better timeliness with getting people through what can be an uncomfortable experience.”