When the new Bay County Community Health Center opens in what was the Art Van Furniture Center, it will be a boon for Bay City and Bangor Township.
Construction is set to be completed by the end of 2025.
Bay County Public Health Officer Joel Strasz says the Health and Human Services Center will house health department clinics plus other human services and offices.
“It will be kind of like a one-stop shop for people that are looking for assistance or need help,” he says.
The county received $9 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds and another $2 million in federal dollars from a congressional appropriation to buy and renovate what was once an iconic furniture store at 4150 Wilder Road across from the
Bay City Town Center.
t’s an acquisition Bangor Township Supervisor Glenn Rowley was happy to see.
“It’s a win-win for the area, and I’ll say the whole West Side,” Rowley says, adding the health department had also been looking at the former Younker’s site inside the Bangor Township mall, but the old furniture store was more affordable and a better fit.
Strasz says they did look at the Younker’s site in the mall, but it had a few issues including that it would have been harder to re-fit the space. The furniture store already had “a lot of little coves in there that are already made, so the need for extensive renovation is greatly reduced.”
That the new site is just inside the city limits isn’t a problem for Bangor Township officials.
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Photo courtesy of Bay County“We know there’s going to be a lot of pour-over business that will be generated from it,” and Rowley says he’s looking forward to welcoming new visitors to the township.
Strasz says there will be other human service agencies coming into the new building along with the health department.
Rowley says he’s hearing one of them might be the CAN Council. The CAN Council advocates for children to help break the cycle of violence in the home. Rowley said it’s rumored that the State of Michigan will also be opening an office for one of its departments there, but nothing has been confirmed.
The current Bay County Health Department is located on the city’s East Side at 1200 Washington Ave., which makes getting services more difficult for those on the West Side. Strasz adds he is well aware that the West Side location also may cause problems for some.
“We’re actively trying to work with public transportation to make sure that there is a regular scheduled bus outlet there,” which will help the both the health center and the nearby township.
“Of course if they get a bus ride over to the health department, then they might use the mall or Walmart or some of those other businesses over there, too. It will be a boon for that particular location, no doubt,” says Strasz.
The move is necessary because the number of services and clientele visiting the downtown location has outgrown the space. The existing building also has some issues with climate control. Strasz says the current location was at one time a grocery store and then was a department store.
“My office is so cold that I always say this was probably the meat department,” he says, adding the building has been essentially the same since it was renovated in the mid-1970s.
“This is the first major construction project that we’ve had at the health department,” Strasz says. “It’s kind of a learning curve for us, but we’re excited.”
They’ve begun working with a contractor and are planning some announcements around that soon.
“We’re definitely moving forward and there will be more information coming very soon,” he says.
Along with the county’s allocation of ARPA funds, State Rep. Dan Kildee was instrumental in securing the federal funding for the project, Strasz says. The $2 million in federal funding will make a big difference in what they’re able to do.
“It’ll probably take all of that to get it all up and running, but it’s a pretty big investment in this community,” he says.
Kildee says the funds are part of what’s known as Community Project Funding and are dollars legislators get to put back into their own communities for economic development and other projects.
“For too long, Bay County families have struggled to get the care and services they need because the doctors, nurses, and social workers they rely on have been scattered across the county,” he says, adding the funds will help bring much-needed services such as primary care, substance abuse treatment, and other public health services, to one place.
For many residents, the new facility will make a big difference.
“This economic development project will bring Bay County’s health services under one roof, making it easier for local residents to see a doctor, connect with substance abuse treatment providers, talk with a social worker, and take care of any other health needs they might have. I’m proud to have secured federal funding for this important project,” says Kildee.
Construction should start sometime this fall, Strasz says, “and we will be all moved in and set by the end of 2025.”
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