Henry Ford Health announces $2.5 billion expansion in Detroit's New Center
(CBS DETROIT) – A multi-billion dollar development is coming to Detroit's New Center neighborhood.
Henry Ford Health is partnering with the Detroit Pistons and MSU to build a new hospital, research facility, and affordable housing.
In total, it's a $2.5 billion investment; much of the project will go across the street from the existing hospital that's over one hundred years old on West Grand Boulevard near the Lodge.
"This is not the building of a hospital. This is the building of a world-class medical institution in an academic setting tied into the community," City of Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said during a news conference announcing the project Wednesday.
Over the next decade, Henry Ford Health will drastically transform the area, beginning with a brand new one-million-square-foot hospital.
"That innovation and discovery that will happen here stands to transform how people receive and experience care, both here and across the world. Dream, no small dreams," Bob Riney, President and CEO of Henry Ford Health, said
Inside the facility, expect to see private rooms for every patient while they receive care. They're also planning to expand the emergency room and intensive care units.
Tunnels, bridges, and walkways will connect the upgraded facilities.
"The time is now to give this world-class city a world-class academic medical center," Riney said.
The area has already seen significant changes, with the Detroit Pistons moving to the neighborhood a few years ago.
"That's what this is about building bridges that expand the zone of economic development and investment in Detroit. Out from downtown and further into the neighborhood," Arn Tellem, Vice Chairman of the Detroit Pistons, said.
The franchise is part of this expansion and offers to bring affordable housing into the fold.
"That's the great thing about both the pistons and henry ford, you're going to need people to work the cafeteria, you're going to need people to push the wheelchair is in the hallway, you're gonna need nurses and radiologists, and you need them all in the same neighborhood," Duggan told reporters.
A medical research facility will go up as part of the partnership between Henry Ford Health and Michigan State University Health Sciences.
"And then the research itself is going to be designed around unlocking the health code. Why does one gender have a certain affiliation more than others? Why does one ethnic group? Why does the zip code you live in matter so much as it relates to your determinants of overall health?," Riney said.
Most of the money will come from the hospital's earnings and donations. They also plan to apply for grants, and Mayor Duggan told CBS News Detroit they're working on an incentive plan for this project that will be hashed out in the coming months.
The health system's board of directors is expected to approve the plan later this month, with a groundbreaking ceremony anticipated next year.
