With demolition of long-time building, Sanford clears way for central campus upgrades

A fixture on the Sanford USD Medical Center Campus since 1956 is gone.

After a ceremonial first chunk was taken out of the building known as MB1 by CEO Kelby Krabbenhoft last week, construction crews finished the job and the two-story building on the east end of the Sanford property was removed.

“We had some fun with the tear down,” said Paul Hanson, president of Sanford Sioux Falls. “It’s something he’s wanted down for a while. There was always a use for it, but now with the expansions we’re able to repurpose.”

Some of the services will be moved to the new Imagenetics building, MB2 and other spaces that have been freed up on the main campus because of new additions.

“It served us very, very well but had lived past its prime, and it’s in a key location for us to develop other services,” Hanson said.

The former site of the 46,000-square-foot MB1 will become about 200 parking spaces – at least for now.

Sanford is in the process of planning for the future of its central Sioux Falls campus, which will include creating a boulevard through it. The working plan is to locate outpatient services in that area, such as ophthalmology and ears, nose and throat.

There will be more buildings coming on campus, too, but exactly what they will hold, where and when they will be built is still being determined.

“There are a number of options we’re keeping open at this point,” Hanson said. “Whether that be looking at something with orthopedics or something with women’s or an ambulatory surgery center.”

Orthopedics is an especially unique conversation internally.

Sanford is planning an 8,000-square-foot orthopedic clinic that will be part of a two-story building starting construction soon at the Sanford Sports Complex.

That building will also include offices for the Summit League and is scheduled to open next year.

“That will accommodate what we have for immediate needs for our athletic events and some of the programming we have out there,” Hanson said.

“As we’ve tried to align our strategies with the orthopedics service line, we’ve looked at how do we take what we’ve done with research and apply that to our operational ortho service line and blend the two.”

For instance, Sanford Research now leads the nation in the number of approved clinical trials using adipose-derived stem cells. The system is in various stages of testing them on rotator cuff injuries, osteoarthritis in the wrist and a certain type of lower back pain. Sanford also has a clinic in Germany that offers the treatment.

“That’s the differentiator between an ortho practice that is state-of-the-art and a basic one. And there is a big distinction between the two,” Hanson said.

“If we believe 80 to 95 percent of orthopedics will be on an outpatient basis, that helps us look at the best place for our center of excellence.”

A timeline for any building construction on the MB1 site hasn’t been set, he said.

“I don’t think it’s a next year build, but I like the options in terms of what we can put on the space and tie it to the boulevard development and the close proximity to the hotel across the street.”

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With demolition of long-time building, Sanford clears way for central campus upgrades

A fixture on the Sanford USD Medical Center Campus since 1956 is gone.

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