Press Releases January 3, 2025

The University of Rochester Orthopaedics & Physical Performance Center Transforms a Suburban Mall

The Saunders Center uses vacant retail space to meet the region's rising demand for outpatient surgery, therapy, and performance training.

HENRIETTA, NY―One of the largest outpatient orthopedics centers in the Northeast is now open and treating patients in the same place where they once shopped for home appliances and furniture. The University of Rochester’s new Saunders Center for Orthopaedics and Physical Therapy, located in a former Sears department store building, demonstrates how unused retail spaces can be successfully redesigned and repurposed to meet a community’s healthcare needs.

The Saunders Center was designed by Perkins&Will, in collaboration with architect of record SLAM (The S/L/A/M Collaborative). Its design and siting offer a solution for two converging national trends: a surge in vacant retail space, and a growing demand for more convenient healthcare infrastructure.

The facility includes a renovation of a portion of the Marketplace Mall, as well as a new outpatient clinical services tower housing ambulatory surgery and post-operative care, 144 exam rooms, advanced diagnostic imaging, movement-based physical therapy and athletic training, computerized motion analysis, customized prosthetics and assistive devices, and injury risk assessment and prevention.

Repurposing a traditional community anchor, such as a mall, helps upend perceptions of healthcare as a centralized urban complex. We are integrating healthcare into the existing fabric of the community rather than asking patients to travel to a facility that might be hard to reach or seem intimidating in scale or layout.

Robert Goodwin, FAIA, Design Principal

The design is tailored towards patients with mobility challenges, creating a manageable and unintimidating facility.

Community Care Close to Home

The Saunders Center reflects an urgency to expand infrastructure into underserved regions, helping to address the country’s healthcare equity gaps. One of the design team’s priorities for the new facility was to create a sense of familiarity and accessibility.

“With healthcare facilities nationwide shifting towards decentralized services, repurposing underutilized retail spaces offers a tremendous opportunity for institutions like URMC to expand their outpatient services by relocating to mall settings,” says Scott Hansche, AIA, principal-in-charge at SLAM.

The focus on accessibility is evident in a series of decentralized entry points and the addition of a dedicated bus stop outside of the outpatient facility along the mall’s usual route. Ample parking and public transit access ensure equity for all members of the community, as well as those visiting from farther away. Entrances are clearly marked, and generous interior waiting areas and valet parking provide protection from the inclement weather and cold temperatures of upstate New York winters.

The Saunders Center has been tremendously well-received by patients. The location is known to most people in the region, and its previous role as a retail site means that accessibility is tremendous. The design principles employed were focused on patients with mobility challenges and I consistently hear from patients how much more manageable this facility is for them than our previous office locations.

Dr. Paul Rubery, Chair of Orthopaedics at URMC

Anticipating the Future of Orthopaedics 

As technological improvements and medical advances allow for shorter recovery times following surgical procedures, orthopaedics has moved beyond inpatient treatment to a relatively quick outpatient experience and lifelong-care model. In the months since the Saunders Center opened, URMC has seen a continuous uptick in demand for all services offered at the location.

“The layout and design of the Sunders Center reflect the changing demands of orthopedic care,” says Carolyn BaRoss, interior design principal at Perkins&Will. “Patients conveniently access the full spectrum of care with ease, in an encouraging and comfortable environment that encourages mobility. We were inspired by an early statement by Dr. Rubery, that in winter in Rochester, caregivers arrive before sunrise and leave after dark, so we planned daylight access into the new tower’s clinic modules. Additionally, we took full advantage of the existing mall building which offered not only tall ceilings, but also skylights which were repurposed and supplemented to provide abundant daylight in Pre and Post OP, therapy spaces, rehabilitation gyms and pools.”

Anticipating patients back on their feet sooner, much of the renovated portion of the project houses physical therapy and recovery areas, and sports performance facilities. One such area, the CHAMPP Gym (Center for Human Athleticism and Musculoskeletal Performance and Prevention), is dedicated to injury prevention, athletic performance training, nutrition, and academic support for student athletes.

“The facility has been an enormous benefit to patients, faculty and staff; the increase in space, the thoughtful design, and the transmission of natural light inside has improved our collective wellness,” says Dr. Rubery. “With the larger footprint, we have been able to introduce novel programs for patients such as our osteoporosis nutrition classes and our group exercise programs. We have seen steady growth in visits and procedures, and yet have not experienced crowding, lines or pressured spaces.”

Clinical exam reception areas in the new tower offer daylight access and generous space along paths of travel.

A Rapid and Resilient Solution to the Healthcare Supply Chain

Breathing a second life into an expansive yet under-utilized retail complex yields both economic and environmental benefits, allowing the design team to repurpose existing infrastructure and resources while reducing costs and construction times.

“Construction began in June 2021, and by 2023, the transformed space was up and running—a swift turnaround that benefits both our team and URMC. With existing infrastructure, we could concentrate on realizing the university’s vision for a facility that integrates orthopaedics, radiology, surgery, and treatment under one roof, meeting the region’s growing demand for accessible care,” says Hansche

The “medtail” model has been explored elsewhere in the United States to similar effect, proving that while the retail landscape may be changing, the convenience of the suburban strip mall remains appealing to patients as well as to hospital systems seeking a relatively fast and affordable way to keep up with demand.

Wide, daylit concourses link arrival points to surgical, clinical and therapy spaces, and a central courtyard connected to the CHAMPP Gym.

Knowing that in winter, caregivers arrive before sunrise and leave after dark, there is planned daylight access throughout the space.

The University of Rochester Orthopaedics & Physical Performance Center Transforms a Suburban Mall

Related Content