By JAMES FINK
jfink@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1611

Kaleida Health has tapped a joint venture headed by one of the region's largest developers to build a 60,000-square-foot medical office building on its Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital campus in Amherst.

Sources have said that Krog Corp. of Orchard Park and Dasco Co. of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., will jointly develop the building.

The price tag could top $11 million.

A formal announcement regarding the project is due next week.

The building, long in Kaleida's planning, addresses the growing need for medical office and treatment space that ties in with services offered at Millard Fillmore Suburban.

This summer, the insurer sent out a request for proposals to the development community, with the intent of getting the project under way by next year.

The project not only cements the growing suburban medical campus that is evolving along Maple Road but is one of the most-coveted in the local development community.

It attracted interest from virtually every major development company locally.

Kaleida, Krog and Dasco officials declined to comment about the project.

For Dasco, which specializes in leasing, financing and marketing medical office projects, the building will be its first venture in New York state.

The company has several other projects in various stages of development, including a 79,000-square-foot facility in Peoria, Ill., and an 80,000-square-foot building in Parker, Co.

Krog, meanwhile, has built and developed a number of medical-related projects, including ones in Amherst and Orchard Park.

The Kaleida project joins a growing list of medical office developments that have been announced in the Maple Road area around Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital.

That includes a proposal to transform the former Evangel Assembly of God Church - located less than one mile east of the hospital - into a multi-tenant, medical-based complex.

Last year, Millard Fillmore Suburban handled 18,700 inpatient discharges - second-most in the eight counties of Western New York, according to statistics compiled by the state Department of Health.

Only Mercy Hospital of Buffalo handled more with 20,006 inpatient discharges.

In comparison, Buffalo General Hospital handled 18,151 inpatient discharges, according to the state statistics. Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo handled 15,063 inpatient discharges and Erie County Medical Center reported 14,907.

In the Amherst real estate and development pipeline, there is nearly 200,000 square feet of proposed or available medical-based office space, including the Kaleida building. Most are tenant-driven.