Detroit - Henry Ford Health said Wednesday it is working with the Detroit Pistons and Michigan State University on a $2.5 billion plan to develop the site over the next decade that includes a new hospital, a medical research center and residential and entertainment complexes.
Detroit Health System plans to demolish Health Alliance Plan's headquarters and build a $1.8 billion hospital in the New Center neighborhood across the street from the existing Henry Ford Hospital, officials announced at the Pistons Performance Facility stadium. The hospitals and facilities will be connected by bridges, underground tunnels and green walkways. The new hospital will have 877 beds, the same number as the existing hospital, but 350 of them will be housed in a new patient tower, officials said.
All beds at the new hospital will be private, as Henry Ford Health is modeling itself after the West Bloomfield hospital it opened in 2009 with 200 private rooms. Some units at the existing Henry Ford Hospital will be converted into larger private rooms that can accommodate families, officials said.
"In this renovated hospital, all patient rooms will be private, which all Detroit residents deserve, as well as all Michigan residents with dedicated space for crews, family members and visitors," said Henry Ford Health System President and CEO Robert Riney.
The joint medical research center with Michigan State University will allow for clinical trials, precision medicine, artificial intelligence, machine learning and population health research to change "the way health care is delivered, not just here but everywhere," Rini said. The health system expects the research center to "bring the world's attention to the work we will be doing," added Dr. Steven Kalkanis, the health system's chief academic health officer.
Rini said the new hospital alone would be the largest investment in Detroit health care in the history of the health system, and it would be philanthropically funded, with no economic incentives required. He did not elaborate.
"Detroit deserves a leading academic medical center and destination for the most advanced treatment, research and education," said Rini. "The future of health care is already here, and we are proud without words."
The proposed plan raised questions about how the new hospital would affect Detroit's health care landscape, how surrounding neighborhoods might benefit from the development, and whether MSU's footprint would extend through its Cass Corridor satellite campus to the New Center. Also highlighted were how the hospital system may seek to become more competitive with competitors and how medical school training may change.
The hospital is one part of what Henry Ford Health officials called "a 'transformational vision' to improve health care" and "create unique opportunities to live, work and play," including, perhaps, hotel accommodations.
These projects will transform New Center, home to Henry Ford General Hospital for more than a century, into a walkable neighborhood with state-of-the-art residential, commercial, retail, entertainment and medical facilities for the area south of West Grand Boulevard on both sides of the John C. Lodge.
The core of the redeveloped neighborhood will be Henry Ford Health's revitalized academic health campus, a new 1 million-square-foot facility and patient tower. Among the differences are an expanded emergency department with space for trauma and behavioral health, intensive care units and technologically advanced operating rooms. Upgraded spaces include procedure rooms, cardiac catheterization, physiology labs, interventional radiology, and robotic platforms for neuroscience and cancer transplantation.
In June 2017, Henry Ford Health began a $155 million expansion of the Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion at Henry Ford Hospital. A year later, in May 2018, the hospital received a $20 million gift from an anonymous donor that was used to create the Henry Ford Pancreatic Cancer Center, where a national and international center was planned at the time. Officials say the new hospital will now focus on utilizing advanced technology for the surgical treatment of pancreatic cancer.
The small number of Henry Ford and HAP employees who still work in the HAP building will be relocated to other locations, Henry Ford officials said, noting that many HAP team members work in Troy.
The plan calls for a new medical research center for Henry Ford Health and MSU Health Sciences as part of the hospital's 30-year partnership with MSU. The research center would be located where One Ford Place is now, along Third Street, across from the Pistons Performance Center and the Henry Ford Administration Building. The health system's board of directors must approve the project, and if that happens, construction would begin in 2024 and it would open to patients in 2029.
The multi-year commercial project, led by Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores, will create 550 or more housing units and more than 85,000 square feet dedicated to landscaping, recreation and outdoor basketball courts, according to Pistons spokesman Kevin Grigg. The professional basketball team will move its headquarters to New Center from Auburn Hills in 2019 with the opening of a new practice facility.
"We can't wait to transform our neighborhood into a vibrant community," said Pistons Vice Chairman Arn Tellem. "This is a critical part of bringing a business franchise back to Detroit where we belong, and we're not just going to play games here, but we're going to build a home here and fit into the community."
'Worldwide attention to research'
The research building will combine basic translational and clinical research, clinical trials, precision medicine, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and population health research "to change the way health care is delivered, not just here but everywhere," Kalkanis said.
"The building will host many collaborative research efforts, such as cancer and health disparities, and will foster discovery through an integrated partnership of buyers, scientists, academics and public health practitioners," Calcanis said.
University of Michigan Interim President Teresa Woodruff called the latest development in the partnership with Henry Ford Health "an important point of upheaval" as they are in the second year of a 30-year partnership.
"To date, Michigan State University has 109 research, 85 clinical and 10 new faculty members," Woodruff said. "This includes the development of cancer therapies, patient management techniques, particularly surgical treatments for prostate cancer."
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, a former president of the Detroit Medical Center, said one of the first buildings constructed in 1915 on Grand Boulevard was Henry Ford Hospital. Since then and in Detroit's declining years, he said, "Detroiters have watched dozens of hospitals leave our city, close their doors. .... And Henry Ford never wavered."
"It's building a world-class medical facility in an academic environment tied to the community. I mean, it's really visionary," Duggan said.
'The buildings are a little tired.
According to Allan Baumgarten, a health care markets expert at the University of Minnesota who studies the Michigan hospital market, Henry Ford Health made the move not only to remain competitive with hospital rivals, but also because it "reflects a fundamental need."
"Henry Ford's original buildings are getting boring," Baumgarten says. "... I think they saw it not only as a necessity, but as an opportunity."
The new hospital in Detroit will still have the most rooms in the health system. The next largest Henry Ford hospital is Jackson Hospital with 420 beds, followed by Henry Ford Macomb Hospital with 361 beds and Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital with 360 beds.
The influence of billionaire investors on Detroit is important, Baumgarten said, and Gores joined Rocket Mortgage founder Dan Gilbert as a player in the redevelopment of Michigan's largest city. A project like this can't be done alone without the involvement of billionaires, he added. "It's interesting that Detroit has big personalities like Gilbert and Gores from the Pistons," Baumgarten said, adding that they "want to remake the city or remake a big part of it." So it's, I think, a tribute to Detroit, but it's also, I think, a commentary on people who maybe have big egos about the kind of footprint they want to leave in a major city."
The announcement comes nearly a month after the Detroit Downtown Development Authority approved the first round of financing for the $1.5 billion District Detroit project, a joint venture between family-owned Ilitch and Ross to build apartment buildings and mixed-use complexes.
The Pistons have already partnered with Henry Ford Health to create the Pistons Performance Center in the New Center neighborhood. The National Basketball Association team holds its workouts at this center, which includes Plum Market and Planet Fitness.
The $90 million Henry Ford Detroit Pistons Performance Center, located near Amsterdam Street and Second Street, is the team's headquarters, housing basketball operations and practice facilities under one roof.
At the center's opening in October 2019, Gores said he intends to get busy developing the city.
"It's an important milestone, but our work in Detroit is just beginning. Our ambitions have always been broader than just basketball," Gores said at the time. "This is an investment in the future of our city."