ANN ARBOR - When the $121 million expansion of the Kellogg Eye Center is complete, it will be "the largest and most comprehensive eye center in the Midwest," according to the University of Michigan.

The eight-story, 222,000 square-foot expansion project will nearly double the university's current space for eye care, education and research when it opens in 2010. It is being constructed adjacent to the existing eye center on Wall Street. Gilbane-Clark is managing the construction.

The Kellogg Eye Center has experienced 11 percent growth in patient visits in each of the last seven years and expects even faster growth as the aging boomer population peaks in the next 10 to 15 years. The center has current projections forecasting growing demand for technological vision-care advances, ranging from genetic testing for eye disease, to "bladeless" laser surgery, to new kinds of lenses that can be implanted to improve vision after cataract surgery.

The building's upper two floors will house advanced laboratories for Type 1 diabetes research, and cutting-edge facilities for communication and data-sharing among diabetes researchers throughout U-M and beyond. The setup will foster programs and that will allow collaboration for researching eye-related complications of diabetes.

In part due to Michigan's aging population, outpatient visits to the main Kellogg location in Ann Arbor increased from 36,852 in 1985 to 78,228 in 2005. When this project is complete, clinical space with the expansion will increase from 50 examination rooms today to 73 rooms.

"Models for understanding and treating eye disorders are emerging from our laboratories right now," said Paul R. Lichter, M.D., director of the Kellogg Eye Center "With additional resources and space, we will be able to transform these concepts into technologies for treatment. Several current projects have potential to yield major breakthroughs, including drug development, gene therapy, and a novel device that will detect eye disease well before symptoms appear."

THE EIGHT-STORY Kellogg Eye Center at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

PLUMBING an examination room inside the Kellogg Eye Center addition is Jack Colegrove of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Local 190 and Western Mechanical.