Batavia clinic to expand

Batavia city officials were happy Monday night to help a longtime business manage to expand while staying in town.

The city council agreed - 12-0 - to let Advocate Dreyer Medical Clinic build a 22,000-square-foot clinic on the southeast corner of Fabyan Parkway and Branson Drive, on the city's west side.

It's more than double the size of Dreyer's present clinic on the east side, at 725 Fabyan Parkway, where it has been since 1988.

The new building is a single story. Dreyer expects to offer a walk-in clinic, as well as pediatric and dermatology services and physical therapy.

The plan would allow the new building to be expanded by about 8,000 square feet. It also would allow Dreyer to build two additional 9,000-square-foot "medical boutique" buildings, which could house doctors' offices, medical supply stores, pharmacies or even a sandwich shop. The site is a little less than six acres and was designated for medical building use when it was annexed to Batavia as part of the Wal-Mart development to the east.

"Basically, the committee had no problems; in fact we're pretty favorable to the whole project," said 7th Ward Alderman Dave Brown, chairman of the city's community development committee.

Paul Kopecki of Med Properties, the developer of the project, said Dreyer has run out of space at its current building. That building is up for sale.

"It's great to see some development happening," Brown said.

"At the end of the day I'm very pleased that they found this site and committed to Batavia," said Mayor Jeff Schielke.