Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times

Glenda Meade, who works in the audiology offices at Riverside Center in Roanoke, prepares an exam room. Three physician specialist practices are set to open at the center next week.

Carilion Clinic has spent $2.5 million to carve out space for three physician specialist practices inside a building that once promised to house high-tech biomedical companies.

Permits for the renovation of the third floor of 1 Riverside Center, located near the corner of South Jefferson Street and Reserve Avenue in Roanoke, were initially filed in September, and the practices are readying to see patients beginning next week.

The Riverside building was the first of what promised to be multiple office buildings housed in a redevelopment zone that was to become a biomedical park ushered in by Carilion through an agreement with the city.

Now, instead of a biomedical park, the Riverside complex has taken on a new identity as the future home of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute and a place for Carilion to house its burgeoning medical staff.

Carilion's ongoing transformation to a clinic from a traditional hospital system has meant hiring physicians and, in particular, building up specialist practices.

Those moving into the newly outfitted third floor of the Riverside building are among the practices that have either grown or been newly created as part of the transformation, Carilion spokesman Eric Earnhart said.

"I think you're seeing an evolution of that site into what is a very exciting health care research, medical and educational campus and facility," Earnhart said.

Construction projects to the north and south of the Riverside building are under way to fulfill the latest vision for the redevelopment zone.

To the north, the joint medical school and research institute building is on schedule to open for the start of classes in August 2010, Earnhart said. And to the south, Carilion's clinic building housing doctors offices should open in September.

Moving into the new Riverside space are an ear, nose and throat practice that joined Carilion in March 2007, a gynecology oncology practice that has grown from one physician to three in about five years, and a new dermatologist who recently moved to the area. In all, nine physicians, three audiologists and several others in support staff are moving into the building.

While the third floor will now be occupied for the first time, the second floor of the building remains unfinished.

The first floor houses offices for the medical school, Carilion Pathology and the Virginia Tech Riverside obesity research program. The fourth floor is the only floor to have met the original intent of housing a high-tech company. That floor has served as the home base for Luna Innovations Inc. since September 2006.