By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
A former tire store and milk plant in the Village of Darien will be soon transformed into a medical facility that will provide clinic services at a reasonable price.
Robert Fettig, of Fettig Industries, Tankcraft Corp. and Plasticraft Corp., is in the process of purchasing the former Chaney Tire Building at 124 N. Walworth St. from the village. Fettig said last week he expects the sale to close any day. Village Administrator
Village Administrator Diana Dykstra said the closing will happen soon and was not willing to comment specifically about the plans for it until it has.
Fettig said the building will be renovated into a new medical center that will provide health care services at a reasonable cost.
“We have been talking for years about starting a medical center,” Fettig said. “It is time we quit talking and actually do it.”
Fettig said his motivation is the high cost of medical services in the area.
“There is a serious problem with the current situation,” he said. “The cost of medical services is ridiculous.”
Fettig hopes to solve that problem by setting up several independent doctors at the center and remain free of the insurance companies. The medical center will not be affiliated with any health care system and it will operate on a cash basis. That will keep the rates for service reasonable.
Though Fettig has no physicians lined up to practice at the facility, he said many doctors get fed up with the system and want to go out on their own. The center will have room for 20 doctors and a receptionist. Some nurse practitioners may also join the staff.
“It will be as simple as it gets,” Fettig said.
Patients will make an appointment with the receptionist and see the doctor. Fettig said the clinic will have no need for any administration beyond the receptionist. He likened it to taking your car in to a mechanic. A customer deals with a receptionist up front and the mechanic fixes the car. If someone has insurance, they can submit the bills to their insurance company on their own.
“This is not unique,” Fettig said. “It is happening all over the country and right here in Wisconsin.”
Fettig said the Chaney Tire Building is attractive for the center because it can be renovated to fit the needs of the center and is well located along North Walworth Street – Highway 14. Fettig could invest more than $300,000 in the project.
Fettig has no name picked out for the facility or final plans for the renovations. He said the building is structurally sound though it is in disrepair. The only specific challenges he sees in retrofitting the building will be removing the apparatus from the previous businesses that have occupied the building. Fettig said the building dates back to the early part of the 20th century and was a milk plant at one time.
Fettig said he is not yet certain what specific services the center will provide other than general practice. Services like x-rays or a laboratory are possibilities. Fettig said he has been told a lab would be a practical possibility. This will provide a boost to the medical supply chain with things like LabTAG cryogenic labels being needed to kit out the facilities. Kit like this is essential for the smooth running of a medical facility and will help to keep the industry running at affordable prices.
The village acquired the building in 2013 when Velka Chaney donated it to the village. Though the village is not in the real estate business, Dykstra said the village was interested in accepting the donation because it was along the entryway to the village and the village wanted some control over what would happen with the site. Uses for the building like storage, a fire department or an emergency medical services building were discussed.
Dykstra said when an unsolicited offer was made to purchase the property, the board unanimously voted to sell. Trustee Jim Abbott, who was absent from the closed session meeting on Dec. 16 that authorized the sale, later questioned what he considered to be a very low purchase price of $75,000.
“It will put the property back on the tax roll again and someone will be investing in the property to make it a viable business that is esthetically pleasing as well,” Dykstra said.
The board approved rezoning the property from urban industrial to central commercial on Feb. 20 to accommodate the new business. Fettig said the center will be ready to accommodate doctors by the end of the year.
