Officials broke ground on the University of Michigan Medicine’s new Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg Troy Center for Specialty Care on Wednesday morning, kicking off the first phase of the long-awaited redevelopment of the former Kmart Corp. headquarters site.

The $250 million building, funded in part by a portion of a $40 million donation from Kenneth Eisenberg, the former chairman and CEO of Dearborn-based Kenwal Steel, is expected to open in the spring of 2027. Frances Eisenberg, Kenneth’s wife, died in November.

With 230,000 square feet, the building is UM Health’s first outpost in Oakland County.

It’s the first building slated for the 40-acre property at West Big Beaver Road and Coolidge Highway across from the luxury Somerset Collection shopping center owned by a joint venture between the Forbes and Frankel families.

Additional components of the new development could include up to 750 residential units, up to 500,000 square feet of office space, up to 300,000 square feet of retail and a hotel with up to 250 rooms and parking.

In June, when the UM Board of Regents signed off on the building’s name, Kenneth Eisenberg said: “Our family and our foundation believe in the power of investing in a healthier future for all … We continue our deep commitment to service through this gift to our community and the people of Michigan, and in honor of Frances’s life and mission.”

Another UM building, the Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg and Family Depression Center, also bears their name.

The Kmart property had long been vacant when demolition on the hulking, 1.1-million-square-foot former office complex began in the fall of 2023.

After Kmart vacated it in the mid-2000s and moved to Illinois as a subsidiary of Sears Holding Corp., it continued its well-documented implosion across state lines. At its peak, the Kmart property accommodated 5,000 employees. When it was sold in 2005, it had fewer than 1,900 employees, many of whom were transferred to Illinois.

Kmart’s last store in Michigan closed in November 2021, ending its run of nearly six decades after its first store opened in 1962 in Garden City. Financial woes hampered the retailer during the last two decades; it sought bankruptcy protection in 2002-03 and eventually merged with Sears, Roebuck & Co. in 2004.