News · Ann Arbor
U-M Regents clear a 100,000-square-foot sports medicine institute on the old Wolverine Tower site
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The University of Michigan Board of Regents has authorized construction of the Nathan and Catherine Forbes Sports Medicine Institute, a planned 100,000-square-foot hub in south Ann Arbor for orthopedic care, surgery, rehabilitation and athletic performance.
The three-level building will rise on the former Wolverine Tower site at State Street and Eisenhower Parkway, near the Stephen M. Ross Athletic Campus, Michigan Medicine said in an Oct. 15 news release. Regents paperwork pegs the project budget at not to exceed $155 million, with funding from University of Michigan Health resources and gifts.
Plans call for 34 exam rooms, an ambulatory surgery center, space for regenerative and biologic procedures, physical therapy, performance training and diagnostic imaging, according to Michigan Medicine and the university’s Record. The building is also expected to house urgent orthopedic services, indoor and outdoor training areas, and co-located nutrition and mental health support.
“The Forbes Sports Medicine Institute will bring together the expertise patients need from injury through recovery and return to activity,” Asheesh Bedi, Michigan Medicine’s executive director and chief of sports medicine and head orthopaedic team physician for Michigan Athletics, said in the release.
Officials cast the institute as the anchor of a statewide sports medicine network that already reaches Ann Arbor, Northville, Brighton, Troy, Lansing and Grand Rapids, with more sites planned. U-M Health and its regional system perform more than 17,000 orthopedic procedures a year across seven hospitals and 30 outpatient clinics, Michigan Medicine said.
The Francis and Kenneth Eisenberg Troy Center for Specialty Care is also expected to add sports medicine and musculoskeletal services when it opens in late spring 2027, the release said.
The project builds on a gift from Nathan and Catherine Forbes announced in September 2025. Nathan Forbes, a 1985 U-M graduate and managing partner of the Forbes Company, co-chairs the university’s Look to Michigan campaign with Catherine Forbes. Completion is scheduled for fall 2028. SmithGroup is recommended as project architect in the Regents action request.
Sources:
Michigan Medicine, “U-M Board of Regents approves construction of Nathan and Catherine Forbes Sports Medicine Institute,” Oct. 15, 2026, https://www.michiganmedicine.org/news-release/u-m-board-regents-approves-construction-nathan-and-catherine-forbes-sports-medicine-institute
University Record, “Regents approve construction of Nathan and Catherine Forbes Sports Medicine Institute,” Oct. 15, 2026, https://record.umich.edu/articles/regents-approve-construction-of-nathan-and-catherine-forbes-sports-medicine-institute/
University of Michigan Board of Regents, Action Request VIII-6, “Nathan and Catherine Forbes Sports Medicine Institute Project” (not-to-exceed $155 million budget; SmithGroup; fall 2028), October 2026, https://regents.umich.edu/files/meetings/10-26/2026-10-VIII-6.pdf
ClickOnDetroit, “University of Michigan approves new $100M sports medicine institute in Ann Arbor,” Oct. 16, 2026 (facility description; headline dollar figure differs from Regents NTE budget), https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2026/10/16/university-of-michigan-approves-new-dollar100m-sports-medicine-institute-in-ann-arbor/
Photo: Dwight Burdette, “University of Michigan Medical Campus, Ann Arbor, Michigan.JPG,” May 19, 2013, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:University_of_Michigan_Medical_Campus,_Ann_Arbor,_Michigan.JPG
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