Kaiser Permanente Hawaii plans to close its clinic in the Town Center of Mililani this fall and consolidate those operations into its Waipi'o clinic.

Kaiser's Mililani staff of about 50 — including eight physicians — will move about four miles away to the Waipi'o clinic, and members who visit the Mililani clinic will still have the same physicians and caregiver teams, said Kaiser spokeswoman Lynn Kenton.

She said the 87,000 square-foot Waipi'o clinic, which Kaiser owns and opened in November 2004, also offers services that the 16,500 square-foot Mililani clinic doesn't have, including X-rays, optical services, physical therapy, OB-GYN, occupational health and audiology, she said.

The company decided to move because its lease at the Town Center of Mililani is expiring in 2012 and was told it would not be renewed, Kenton said.

The landlord, New York-based TIAA Realty Inc., also said it may have a potential tenant that was interested in leasing the space by the end of the year, so Kaiser chose to end the lease and consolidate the Mililani clinic operations with the larger Waipi'o facility, she said.

Kaiser, which wouldn't say how many members visit the Mililani clinic, has operated the clinic at the Town Center since 1992.

Kaiser sent letters to members within the past week about the consolidation and will keep them updated throughout the year, Kenton said.

Jennie Von Rohr, a Kaiser member and retired sales associate, recently moved from Waipi'o to Mililani Mauka and visits the Mililani clinic at least once a month. She chuckled about the clinic moving to the area where she used to live.

"But that's OK, because my physician is moving, too," she said. "It's just a little ways down the freeway, and we're there."

Von Rohr said she supports the change and that she has visited the Waipi'o clinic for other services.

Kaiser, the state's largest health-maintenance organization, has 223,000 members and 18 clinics statewide. Twelve clinics, including Mililani, are on O'ahu.

At this time, Mililani is the only clinic that Kaiser plans to consolidate, Kenton said. But she said officials are looking at all Kaiser operations across the region, including lease contracts, with the goal of "managing costs and providing increased services to our members."

Any future changes also could include opening new clinics, she said, adding that Kaiser recently opened a clinic in Mapunapuna.

Kaiser said in 2005 that it planned to close its Kailua clinic and move those operations in 2008 to its Koolau Clinic, which officials also planned to expand. Kenton said Kaiser officials are re-evaluating those plans for the Windward side.

Kaiser also is in the middle of a $150 million expansion and renovation of its Moanalua Medical Center, including a new five-story tower with 109 new beds. The tower is scheduled to open in summer 2008, and renovations to the existing facility are expected to be completed in summer 2009.

Town Center of Mililani property manager Jenifer Bradley, of Colliers Monroe Friedlander Management Inc., said she could not immediately comment because she first needed authorization from the center's landlord.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.