DETROIT (WXYZ) — Henry Ford Health celebrated a major milestone Thursday in its $2.2 billion "Destination Grand" campus expansion in Detroit's New Center area, as hundreds gathered to watch a 1,400-pound beam placed atop a new 20-story patient tower.
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"After 111 years in the making, this is the most exciting day for Henry Ford Health," Dr. Steven Kalkanis, Executive Vice President of Henry Ford Health, said.
The topping-out ceremony marks significant progress on the project, which is being constructed across the street from the current Henry Ford Hospital on West Grand Boulevard.
The new hospital facility will span 1.2 million square feet and include 432 patient rooms, a shared services building, a central energy hub, and a parking structure.
"This is Destination Grand, it's hope for the future, it's hope for our city, this is state-of-the-art healthcare that's come to life," Kalkanis said.
Kalkanis highlighted the range of specialized care the new facility will offer.
"We'll have the most number of specialty intensive care units in the state, we have transplant, neurosurgery, cancer surgery, we have heart and vascular. We have an emergency room that is going to be double in size," Kalkanis said. "It really is going to offer every amenity known to humankind and medicine today, we're putting it here."
The hospital expansion is also part of a larger development effort involving the Detroit Pistons and Michigan State University, which will bring mixed-income housing and a new medical research center to the area.
Bob Riney, president and CEO of Henry Ford Health, said the project's impact will extend well beyond healthcare.
"So the holistic effort of this, that it's happening in this city and the economic development that this is going to create is a spin-off of hotels, restaurants, researchers coming in from all over the world, it's what we want and what we need," Riney said.
With the topping-out complete, one of the project's next phases will focus on interior design.
"And we want to make sure that patients and families have a lot of input in that design, what makes sense to them?" Riney said.
Detroit resident Roshaun Moore said he welcomed the development.
"It makes the city better, and to see the new hospital being built and everything, I'm happy for it," Moore said.
The new hospital and shared services building are expected to open in 2029. The 449 patient rooms at the current hospital will become private spaces.
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