McLaren Flint, part of statewide McLaren Health Care, and Bentley Community Schools, a public district serving students in Genesee County, have finalized the donation of buildings and land to the school district in support of its plans to significantly expand its preschool program.
The donation became official on May 14, with Bentley Community Schools taking ownership of the three 6,000-sq-ft. buildings and the 4.5 acres they sit on.
The former McLaren Flint buildings along Belsay Road, near the district’s high school and middle school, previously housed various clinical and administrative support services. Following expansions that required additional space, those services vacated the buildings, though it was always the intention of McLaren Flint leadership to repurpose those buildings for the benefit of a community partner.
“While our services expanded beyond the offices along Belsay Road, we knew that these building were still an asset and that one of our neighborhood partners could use them for the benefit of the greater community,” said Chris Candela, McLaren Flint President and CEO. “In that spirit, along with our commitment to being dependable community stewards, our aim was always to donate these structures. When we learned of Bentley’s needs and intentions for the buildings, there was no question we wanted to support their vision.”
This process began in 2024, and this official closure and transfer of those properties follows the May 6 voters’ passage of a $2.9 million bond to facilitate the buildings’ renovation, expanding the district’s preschool capacity from 18 to 72.
“We are incredibly grateful for McLaren’s generosity to help us better serve the children in the community,” said Kristy Spann, Ph.D., Superintendent of Bentley Community Schools. “Additionally, our community has spoken, and we are thrilled to be moving forward with our new preschool, a testament to our collective commitment to early childhood education. This is a significant step forward, providing a vital foundation for our youngest learners.”
Learn more about the services offered through McLaren Flint at mclaren.org/flint.
To see more about Bentley Community School’s preschool plans, visit bentleyschools.org.
About McLaren Flint
McLaren Flint is a 378-bed tertiary teaching hospital in Flint, Michigan, offering a full range of comprehensive and advanced services for residents in greater Genesee County. McLaren Flint is affiliated with Michigan State University (MSU) College of Human Medicine in its medical residency programs, including family practice, internal medicine, general surgery, and orthopedic surgery. McLaren Flint also maintains Fellowship programs in vascular surgery, health psychology, cardiology, and pulmonary and critical care in partnership with MSU. McLaren Flint is certified as a BCBSM Blue Distinction Center+ for Bariatric Surgery and Spine Surgery and has earned the Advanced Comprehensive Stroke Center Designation by the Joint Commission and 2024 Get with the Guidelines Gold Plus Award for Stroke Care from the American Heart Association. McLaren Flint is further designated a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology and holds Laboratory Accreditation from the American College of Pathologists. The Karmanos Cancer Institute at McLaren Flint is accredited by the American College of Radiology Radiation Oncology Practice and Michigan Radiation Oncology Quality Consortium (MROQC) 2021 Gold. Learn more at mclaren.org/flint.
About McLaren Health Care
McLaren Health Care, headquartered in Grand Blanc, Michigan, is a $7.3 billion, fully integrated health care delivery system committed to quality, evidence-based patient care and cost efficiency. The McLaren system includes 12 hospitals in Michigan, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, a 640-member employed primary and specialty care physician network, commercial and Medicaid HMOs covering more than 732,838 lives in Michigan and Indiana, home health, infusion and hospice providers, pharmacy services, a clinical laboratory network and a wholly owned medical malpractice insurance company. McLaren operates Michigan’s largest network of cancer centers and providers, anchored by the Karmanos Cancer Institute, a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. McLaren has 28,000 full-, part-time and contracted employees and more than 113,000 network providers throughout Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. Learn more at mclaren.org.