Summit Internal Medicine relocates to 280 corridor

When Trinity Medical Center’s plans to relocate to the new Grandview Hospital on U.S. 280 were approved, experts figured that internal medicine clinics and other healthcare businesses would also make the move to the busy corridor.

For Dr. David Wynne, founder of Summit Internal Medicine, P.C., it was a natural fit, as his practice trains some of Trinity’s medical residents.

In June, after 12 years of operating his practice inside a professional office next to Trinity Medical Center on Montclair Road, Wynne relocated Summit Internal Medicine to a street-level office at 3570 Grandview Parkway. He also added a new doctor to his practice, 

Wynne said Trinity Medical Center’s plan to relocate and rebrand as Grandview Medical Center in October 2015 was a major factor in his decision to relocate. He envisions the U.S. 280 corridor to become a major medical hub over the next few years.

The move has been well received by patients, Wynne said. 

“Concerns regarding 280 traffic have not dissuaded my patients from making their appointments,” he said. “In fact, the majority of my patients have supported this location being near I-459, as it is easier to access than my Trinity office.”

Summit specializes in internal medicine, providing health care for patients ages 18 and older. The office has a full-service lab, digital X-ray and short wait times.

Terry Ponder, who has operated Ponder Commercial Real Estate in Meadowbrook Office Park since 1995, said the trend of healthcare-related businesses relocating to the suburbs like U.S. 280 area is not a temporary thing, but will be a long-term trend.

“I think it’s starting to happen nationwide,” Ponder said. “As the opening of the Grandview hospital approaches, you will see even more doing this.”   

  Ponder said the arrival of doctors practices and other medical facilities is one of the biggest trends on the U.S. 280 corridor. Of the 30-plus businesses that have opened in the area over the past year, some of the biggest projects are health-related.

Among them: 

• Medhelp Urgent Care’s expanded two-story building near the Grandview Medical Center that opens this fall. 

• A new building under construction at the intersection of U.S. 280 and Cahaba River Road. Tenants include Lemak Health, Drayer Physical Therapy Institute and Sonos Imaging and others to be announced soon, Ponder said.

• Total Care Now, a doctor’s practice  in the former two-story Don’s Carpet Building in Greystone.

• Dr. Lisa Miller Oral Facial Surgery at One Inverness Center Parkway.

• St. Vincent’s One Nineteen expansion underway just off Highway 119 in Greystone.

• Brookwood Medical Center’s new Freestanding Emergency Department opening in November on U.S. 280 near Greystone.

• American Family Care’s relocation of its headquarters into a new building on Cahaba Beach Road.

Ponder said these projects are just the start of a major medical corridor on U.S. 280 being spawned.

“This is a new trend to take the heat off the emergency room and make emergency rooms for true emergencies,” Ponder said. “Patients with minor problems such as minor injuries, flu, colds and so on will go to these facilities.”