Henry Ford Health Celebrates Groundbreaking
Henry Ford Hospital held a ground-breaking ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 12. The new expansion project, Destination: Grand, will occupy the same block where Henry Ford Hospital first opened its doors nearly 110 years ago.
This project represents Henry Ford Health’s most significant investment in the city to date and the single largest healthcare investment in Detroit’s history.
Henry Ford Hospital Expansion Project Overview
The $2.2 billion expansion plan centers on a new, state-of-the-art hospital facility spanning 1.2 million square feet on the south side of West Grand Boulevard, directly across the street from the legacy campus, which will continue to operate. The facility includes a 20-story patient tower, with three floors dedicated to providing intensive inpatient physical medicine and rehabilitation in partnership with top-ranked Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. The Gilbert Family Foundation made the inclusion of Shirley Ryan AbilityLab possible through a nearly $130 million investment. Co-founder Dan Gilbert credits the organization for his recovery after a stroke in 2019.
“Our own hospital team members have named this project Destination: Grand,” said Henry Ford Hospital CEO Dr. Steven Kalkanis. “Which is a wonderful play on words, because the future of health will serve as a beacon of destination care with grand aspirations, right on West Grand Boulevard, in the city we never left, in the city we’ve loved for 109 years and counting.”
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Henry Ford Hospital Expansion Features
The project will excel in both obvious features and small other details. The expanded emergency department will more than double in size to 75,000 square feet – and will feature 100 private, flexible treatment spaces. High-tech touches in the 432 all-individual patient rooms will ensure the most comfortable, convenient experience and will complement the existing hospital facility and beds. Interactive patient rooms in the new tower will utilize touchscreen televisions and voice activation for both patients and care teams, and will include dedicated space for visitors in each room. Each of the 28 new operating rooms will handle nearly every type of complex surgical case, from transplants to brain surgery. Five floors of specialized ICU rooms, from cardiovascular to neurological, further underscore Henry Ford Health’s commitment to providing unparalleled care.
Components of Destination Grand initiative
As a component of the Destination Grand initiative, by Henry Ford Health systems vision for expansion includes constructing a 185000 square foot facility for shared services comprising the hospitals kitchen facilities and loading dock in addition to processing units and more; along, with a new parking structure offering 1500 spaces and a Central Energy Hub spanning 46000 square feet in size.
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The Energy Hub will be responsible, for regulating the temperature of the buildings using a system that pumps chilled water without relying on natural gas—a source of pollution and health problems—and this initiative will help transform the facility into one of the biggest hospitals fully equipped to run on electricity in the nation’s healthcare landscape. These new structures will coincide with the construction of the hospital facility and patient tower at the location on the side of West Grand Blvd. just west of the Lodge Freeway and across, from the current hospital.
Read also: New Terrell State Hospital Building Project in North Texas
Henry Ford Hospital Expansion: A plan driven by the community
The hospital campus expansion is a crucial component of Detroit’s vision for the future of healthcare. A plan driven by the community in collaboration with important partners such, as Tom Gores and the Detroit Pistons and Michigan State University to rejuvenate the New Center neighborhood into a lively and accessible community area. A cutting edge medical research center is being established as part of the collaboration, between Henry Ford Health and Michigan State University Health Sciences alongside projects that feature a mix of market rate and affordable housing options along with spaces and recreational areas, in mind.
The Destination: Grand construction site in Detroit is now officially active and enclosed by fencing. This has led to road closures and changes in traffic patterns around Henry Ford Hospital, particularly on the south side of West Grand Boulevard near the Henry Ford Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion.
Based on information provided on the hospital’s website, the new hospital facility is scheduled to begin admitting patients in 2029.
Project Factsheet
- Project Name: Destination: Grand
- Location: Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI
- Cost: $2.2 billion
- Key Features:
- Size: 1.2 million square feet
- Structure: 20-story patient tower
- Emergency Department: 75,000 square feet
- Patient Rooms: 432 advanced rooms
- Sustainability: Fully electric-capable hospital
- Completion: Expected in 2029
