Looking for a new challenge and a change of pace, Dr. John Keech discovered Auburn.

And he hasn’t looked back.

Lured by a private group’s drive to open a state-of-the-art cancer center in growing South King County, Keech immediately welcomed the possibilities and found a new home.

After 17 years in solo practice at Chico, Calif., Keech promptly joined Olympia-based Capital Oncology last November to help usher in a 21,000-square-foot cancer treatment facility. The center, which opened this summer, occupies nearly two floors of the 43,305-square-foot medical-office building known as the Auburn Regional Medical Plaza.

The plaza, which held an open house celebration last week, also supports centers specializing in plastic reconstructive surgery, sleep disorders, orthopedic and sports medicine, internal medicine, neurology and electrodiagnostics.

“Love it,” said Keech, standing proud and wowed by the cleverly-designed and roomy center. “It was a challenge, but I was honored and willing to take it. I think it’s going to become a premier cancer center in the country. I have no doubt about that.”

For Auburn, the center in particular and the plaza in general are the latest pieces to its burgeoning medical campus located in the heart of the city. Despite a tough economic climate, downtown Auburn is growing, feet first with health care. The other side of Main Street and its small businesses will continue to toil as the economy stumbles ahead and the city wrestles with redevelopment.

But progress, any progress, is welcome as mid-size cities compete for solid industry and the healthy business that comes with it.

The plaza is a first-class place, a go-to spot for patients looking for local options and ways to avoid I-5 gridlock to reach specialists scattered about Seattle and Tacoma.

Recognizing this, Auburn and other neighboring medical campuses are becoming more diversified, multi-faceted and essentially, convenient.

Auburn has the capability to become a first-rate health care hub.

“Auburn should be very proud of what’s offered here,” said Dr. Daniel Clerc, who mans the plaza’s advanced sleep disorder center, which relocated from Auburn Regional earlier this year to provide more comfort and ease of service. “This hospital is a jewel to the community.”

The plaza’s specialized centers work in collaboration and support of the medical and surgical staff and ancillary services of Auburn Regional Medical Center.

As Keech points out, the oncology center is a good example of that relationship. The center is second to none, he says, a comprehensive one-stop place for cancer patients.

“We have what we think is the most sophisticated radiation delivery system in the (Puget) Sound right now,” Keech said.

The cancer center is replete with a diagnostic laboratory and cutting-edge imaging with PET/CT scanning, chemotherapy, biologic therapy and immunotherapy infusion services. State-of-the-art radiation therapy features the Varian Clinac IX linear accelerator, a precise tool that visualizes tumor targets with each treatment, thus ensuring exact radiation delivery to the target and minimizing unwanted radiation exposure to normal surrounding tissue.

The second floor of the center features a spacious chemo treatment room that creates a comfortable, open feeling for patients.

Over the past several months, the new plaza has brought together teams of new and familiar doctors and specialists.

Like Keech, Kathy McCormick found a new home here. A longtime PET/nuclear medicine technologist, McCormick was recruited to join Capital Oncology after spending 35 years in Houston. Skilled with the latest technology and the computer-driven equipment that comes with her sophisticated work, McCormick was a good fit for the Auburn job.

“I like it, I love it,” she said.

“The city of Auburn, even though it’s smaller, has as much a need for this kind of cutting-edge cancer treatment and care, even more so than a big city,” McCormick added.

“I was really pleased and amazed at how much there is in this area between medical facilities, doctors’ offices and the hospital.

“It’s small, but they have quite a bit to offer.”

It’s proof that Auburn continues to think big in health care.