Spectrum Health's new "consolidated offices" HQ's

[Khorasaurus1]

Who owns the parking lots east/north of the GVSU buildings? GVSU?

[joeDowntown]

Spectrum / GVSU are building a huge parking ramp to the north, GVSU is in the midst of expanding to the east, and that should leave space for one additional building for future development with the Spectrum/GVSU ramp sitting behind it (next to 196).

Joe

[Guest]

Oh come on, if they want to be on par with Detroit they could take $200 million, promise a ton of spin off development and then demolish Midtown and Belknap for gravel lots!

[grandrollerz]

I didn't see anything controversial here so sharing. Not a lot of detail either mind you. 

(media deleted after second thought, don't want to run afoul of any social media policies)

 

Edited June 26, 2019 by grandrollerz

[GRDadof3]

On 6/18/2019 at 1:25 PM, RegalTDP said:

LOL, the State would probably tell Spectrum if they want money they can go move to Downtown Detroit too.

That made me LOL. 

Is there a group of downtown business leaders that is pushing downtown GR anymore? Other than Orion, Rockford Development and CWD? That's what Detroit has right now, a lot of peer pressure to be downtown. Rich MacKeigan and Charlie Secchia at the CAA? Steve Heacock with the Rapids Restoration project? Greg Gilmore? Rick Baker at the Chamber? Who else would benefit by keeping hundreds of people downtown? The hotel groups? Founders? 

Since the Spectrum Leffingwell site will keep the city coffers filled with income tax,  there's no real incentive for the city to push for it to be downtown from an income perspective. Heck, the city might be relieved that some of the burden on Michigan Street will be lessened. 

Anyone know Tina Freese Decker (CEO) personally?  To propose a stay downtown? I've heard her speak a few times, but that's about it. 

I think the best place for them to stay downtown would be right here at the old GRATA lot. VAI already owns the old Magoos and the old Diocese building. They could do a landswap with VAI for one of their other lots. Ellis Family owns another portion, landswap with Ellis. 

It's a huge footprint at 67,000 square feet, so a lot of room for a parking deck and big floorplates (which helps with new workspace designs).  It's also in the "grid" part of downtown so a lot more easy to handle workers coming and going, closer to transit, closer to downtown than the Hill so people can get out and walk more. 

The epicenter of the Greater GR area is still downtown. Even people from Sparta and Wayland know that. 

So how do we (as a collective community) rally for them to do this project downtown? Make a Rob Bliss video?

Other than the District Detroit project that was supposed to happen near Little Caesars Arena, Detroit is kicking our ass in downtown development now. We can't even get Lyon Square done or Calder Plaza going. WTF. 

 

[GRDadof3]

On 6/18/2019 at 3:54 PM, joeDowntown said:

Spectrum / GVSU are building a huge parking ramp to the north, GVSU is in the midst of expanding to the east, and that should leave space for one additional building for future development with the Spectrum/GVSU ramp sitting behind it (next to 196).

Joe

I think the issue that is happening with Michigan Street is that it's very intimidating to the hundreds of thousands of visitors/patients that Spectrum gets every year.  Those people will not and probably cannot take the bus, for the most part. See my idea above ^^^

[joeDowntown]

I noticed nbbj listed on the flyer/poster. Don’t know if they’re the architect or just the one coming up with the plan, but they’ve done some pretty interesting work. http://www.nbbj.com

Joe

[GRDadof3]

1 hour ago, grandrollerz said:

I didn't see anything controversial here so sharing. Not a lot of detail either mind you. 

Tina mentioned at the CEO summit something about a major strategic plan they were working on and I imagine this is what she was referring to. I thought she'd announce the new project at that but she didn't. 

[GRDadof3]

10 minutes ago, joeDowntown said:

I noticed nbbj listed on the flyer/poster. Don’t know if they’re the architect or just the one coming up with the plan, but they’ve done some pretty interesting work. https://nbbj.com

Joe

Strange, your link dead-ends. 

They did the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation HQ. That's a pretty cool looking project. I think these large firms do the strategic plan with the hopes of landing the actual architecture work. 

http://www.nbbj.com/work/bill-melinda-gates-foundation/

[joeDowntown]

18 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:

I think the issue that is happening with Michigan Street is that it's very intimidating to the hundreds of thousands of visitors/patients that Spectrum gets every year.  See my idea above ^^^

I definitely think the hill would be a less than ideal spot (didn’t mean to imply that they should relocate to Michigan Street). 

IMHO, the issue with putting it downtown is what you described: cost and optics. I think the cost to provide parking for these people would be too much to make it work. And even if they decided to go for it, the optics around building an administration building with adequate parking (or what people may perceive as an “excessive waste”) would just add to the debate about healthcare being too expensive, Spectrum being the only real player in town (certain specialties, etc). 

Even if the CEO was an ardent downtown supporter, I think this would be a hard pill to swallow. Purchasing the land alone would put them in the hole (vs. what they already own). 

And the city doesn’t really have an incentive (and it would look pretty suspicious) if they filed out money since they’re not really losing any tax dollars. 

I’m actually ok with Spectrum moving. I’m hoping it’ll spur growth downtown and open opportunities for other companies to move into the core. I think there could end up being a lot of reinvestment in these buildings once vacated. Spectrum is what it is, they’ll always have a huge presence on the hill, but I’m hoping this is an opportunity for smaller companies to make the move, grow, and reinvest in the core. 

Joe

[GRDadof3]

16 minutes ago, joeDowntown said:

I definitely think the hill would be a less than ideal spot (didn’t mean to imply that they should relocate to Michigan Street). 

IMHO, the issue with putting it downtown is what you described: cost and optics. I think the cost to provide parking for these people would be too much to make it work. And even if they decided to go for it, the optics around building an administration building with adequate parking (or what people may perceive as an “excessive waste”) would just add to the debate about healthcare being too expensive, Spectrum being the only real player in town (certain specialties, etc). 

Even if the CEO was an ardent downtown supporter, I think this would be a hard pill to swallow. Purchasing the land alone would put them in the hole (vs. what they already own). 

And the city doesn’t really have an incentive (and it would look pretty suspicious) if they filed out money since they’re not really losing any tax dollars. 

I’m actually ok with Spectrum moving. I’m hoping it’ll spur growth downtown and open opportunities for other companies to move into the core. I think there could end up being a lot of reinvestment in these buildings once vacated. Spectrum is what it is, they’ll always have a huge presence on the hill, but I’m hoping this is an opportunity for smaller companies to make the move, grow, and reinvest in the core. 

Joe

C'mon Joe I was getting all fired up for downtown!  Funny thing is, Detroit doesn't seem to care about the optics. They've been doled out literally $hundreds of millions in State incentives to redevelop their downtown, which granted was in MUCH worse shape than downtown GR 10 years ago. 

But you may be right, would Spectrum want to get in the crosshairs of the anti-tax crowd when they're fighting the healthcare cost/PR battle? The land cost could be a non-issue with a couple of landswaps like they did with GVSU. It's the parking. Always the parking!!

If the city went ahead and built the library parking ramp, would that be close enough for Spectrum employees?

[walker]

2 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

. . . I’m actually ok with Spectrum moving. I’m hoping it’ll spur growth downtown and open opportunities for other companies to move into the core. I think there could end up being a lot of reinvestment in these buildings once vacated. Spectrum is what it is, they’ll always have a huge presence on the hill, but I’m hoping this is an opportunity for smaller companies to make the move, grow, and reinvest in the core. 

Joe

Hope you are right but that seems like an overly optimistic spin on the situation.  It would be like someone in Flint saying a few years ago that GM closing all those plants was a good thing because it meant all those vacant factories would be available for smaller companies to move into.

[grandrollerz]

A couple more things to also consider with this.

1. https://www.grbj.com/articles/93612-health-system-opens-56m-suburban-facility  Mercy/Saint Marys is opening an OB facility in Ada.  This speaks to the other article i posted just the other day.  More and more services are moving outpatient, especially birthing centers.  I suspect a lot of suburban folks don't want to have a regular vaginal delivery on the hill.  If they are high-risk, or have complications or go early...yes, they'll want to see the specialists on the hill. absolutely.

2. Michigan Medicine doesn't want the hill to be the only place for specialty care.  They love their Metro Health/M-6 suburban location.  So much so that U of M is extending a line of credit for $125 million! 

• From this article: https://www.uofmhealth.org/news/archive/201906/michigan-medicine-shares-expected-positive-financial-0    “This will give us the flexibility to allow for proper investments at Metro that will move us closer towards our long-term strategy of providing access to specialty care closer to home for west Michigan residents,”  (vs. having to send their patients to Spectrum Health OR to Ann Arbor.)

3. You look to the west and find the North Ottawa Hospital as a popular spot to have a baby....but they aren't int he best financial shape apparently.   They already sold off their physicians (https://mibiz.com/item/25989-mercy-health-acquires-north-ottawa-medical-group)  to Mercy and now the rumor in the Grand Haven community is that someone is going to buy North Ottawa.  (maybe someone with $125million of credit?? )   

Leffingwell is a reasonably attractive, accessible, mostly dense area that is decidedly not the Hill/the City.  I think it will be a good fit for the healthcare needs of the community.  Administrative space is different, but again...those people live in the burbs too and have the same bias as patients.

 

Edited June 21, 2019 by grandrollerz

[grandrollerz]

3 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

Tina mentioned at the CEO summit something about a major strategic plan they were working on and I imagine this is what she was referring to. I thought she'd announce the new project at that but she didn't. 

Our previous CEO was in the role for 20 years and had a vision, mission and values.  Now that Tina is in the role, and the market has shifted so dramatically towards technology and consumerism, a new strategic plan for Spectrum Health is under development, and rightfully so.  The Master Facility Plan is a component of that, but probably separate.

[jonrapley]

28 minutes ago, grandrollerz said:

Administrative space is different, but again...those people live in the burbs too and have the same bias as patients.

A lot of administrative staff live in Grand Rapids neighborhoods close to downtown. This will be a big transition for them. 

[MJLO]

50 minutes ago, jonrapley said:

A lot of administrative staff live in Grand Rapids neighborhoods close to downtown. This will be a big transition for them. 

Almost all of the administrative staff I know commute from the suburbs or in an adjacent CSA county.  They are also the people who complain the most about the parking and shuttle situations.  I can think of only one who lives in a proximity neighborhood.   I would think this would be a reprieve for the vast majority of them. 

[MJLO]

4 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

C'mon Joe I was getting all fired up for downtown!  Funny thing is, Detroit doesn't seem to care about the optics. They've been doled out literally $hundreds of millions in State incentives to redevelop their downtown, which granted was in MUCH worse shape than downtown GR 10 years ago. 

But you may be right, would Spectrum want to get in the crosshairs of the anti-tax crowd when they're fighting the healthcare cost/PR battle? The land cost could be a non-issue with a couple of landswaps like they did with GVSU. It's the parking. Always the parking!!

If the city went ahead and built the library parking ramp, would that be close enough for Spectrum employees?

I agree the Detroiter's have been much more organized/ aggressive in their recruitment of companies downtown.  I think the difference is that they are recruiting big public/private for profit companies to fill all that space.  Another component to that is there is/was a HUGE glut of space to fill down there.  Downtown Detroit is built to handle the daytime population of a major city.  I think the built environment downtown GR may be more growth prohibitive that we realize.  The streets are narrower than in most cities, cramming a couple thousand more people into some new corporate building would make already crowded streets even worse during rush times.  There would be more folks that would be drawn to living in the core i'm sure, but i think it would still be a recruiting hindrance  for people who don't want to deal with the hassle of parking and traffic.   There aren't that many spaces for a big corporate campus to go anyway.  The old GRATA lot is a good location, the open parking area between the 5/3rd building and the Calder.  

Our big corporate players couldn't give two craps about being downtown.  I'm not sure how anyone can change that culture.  Spectrum's a different bird given the optics surrounding health care.  Some of this moving will free up space for further growth on the hill.  They will still have the most dominating presence downtown, and will continue to add to the vibrancy and health of the core. 

[kwl]

Unrelated to HQ development, but Spectrum is closing their downtown Strive! office in August. Unfortunate that they couldn't get the model off the ground after boastings 2500+ members right after opening. I can't help but imagine that 90% of those were corporate freebie members, but who knows. 

[thebeerqueer]

3 hours ago, grandrollerz said:

3. You look to the west and find the North Ottawa Hospital as a popular spot to have a baby....but they aren't int he best financial shape apparently.   They already sold off their physicians (https://mibiz.com/item/25989-mercy-health-acquires-north-ottawa-medical-group)  to Mercy and now the rumor in the Grand Haven community is that someone is going to buy North Ottawa.  (maybe someone with $125million of credit?? )   

As someone that used to work closely with North Ottawa in a lakeshore healthcare setting, I would say this is a bit of an understatement. North Ottawa's unwillingness to collaborate with regional partners will be their death sentence. The emergence of Healthpoint (joint venture of Spectrum and Holland Hospital) certainly didn't help. 

[Raildude's dad]

Quote

Spectrum conducted an analysis of potential locations and found the site is the “best and most economically advantageous option for this purpose by more than $20 million.”

The center will be a “contemporary” learning center that will help promote innovation, transformation, advancements and new developments within the system.

It will house several offices, including for human resources, finance, facilities management, the medical group and other back-office functions, to “achieve efficiencies of scale through optimization of meeting rooms and learning opportunities.”

“Beyond the strong bottom-line rationale for this project, the Center for Transformation and Innovation will be key to helping us realize our vision to provide personalized health that is simple, affordable and exceptional,” Freese Decker said.

“Within its walls, we will find dynamic new solutions, so the people we serve can enjoy the best in health care, at reasonable cost, tailored to their individual needs. This building will help take Spectrum Health to the future.”

I want to throw up when I read stuff like this. Spin doctors buzz words that mean what??????????  

My employer was designing a new building.  The new thing is "huddle rooms" so we can "collaborate". Collaborate about what? You have daily tasks to complete, a project to get done, do what your job is.  Most jobs aren't a touchy feely thing, contemplate your navel while thinking about the meaning of life. In our case, there was supposed to be a 6 person huddle room  every so far apart. The current building has 5 conference rooms of various sizes for 65-70 total employees. There are 3 break rooms with fridge, micro wave and 2-3 tables and 4 sets of bathrooms. New building- 6 huddle rooms, 1 break room with 20 seats. 1 fridge, 1 microwave.  2 bathrooms  WTH   And the architects made multiple trips to look at our current facility and ask us how we operate. They bring in an efficiency expert to analyze our operation to "minimize steps". He makes the comment "we need to make sure the employees ie mechanics, have what they need close by. Duh, yes our stockroom is next to the vehicle repair bays.

The best part - every employee in the current building is no further than a second desk from a window to look out doors. New building  - for our department 3 walls are solid, only one long wall has windows, but those are private offices. I asked why the opposite wall couldn't have windows. (Solid wall with a hallway / courtyard  on the other side)  Architect  - "They will get sun lite from a sky light" Why is the end wall solid w/o windows.   Architect - "That's were a future expansion will go"  Duh, I though the buzz words included "building for the future".  We can't have windows until that time in the future?

Edited June 22, 2019 by Raildude's dad

[GRLaker]

11 hours ago, Raildude's dad said:

I want to throw up when I read stuff like this. Spin doctors buzz words that mean what??????????  

My employer was designing a new building.  The new thing is "huddle rooms" so we can "collaborate". Collaborate about what? You have daily tasks to complete, a project to get done, do what your job is.  Most jobs aren't a touchy feely thing, contemplate your navel while thinking about the meaning of life. In our case, there was supposed to be a 6 person huddle room  every so far apart. The current building has 5 conference rooms of various sizes for 65-70 total employees. There are 3 break rooms with fridge, micro wave and 2-3 tables and 4 sets of bathrooms. New building- 6 huddle rooms, 1 break room with 20 seats. 1 fridge, 1 microwave.  2 bathrooms  WTH   And the architects made multiple trips to look at our current facility and ask us how we operate. They bring in an efficiency expert to analyze our operation to "minimize steps". He makes the comment "we need to make sure the employees ie mechanics, have what they need close by. Duh, yes our stockroom is next to the vehicle repair bays.

The best part - every employee in the current building is no further than a second desk from a window to look out doors. New building  - for our department 3 walls are solid, only one long wall has windows, but those are private offices. I asked why the opposite wall couldn't have windows. (Solid wall with a hallway / courtyard  on the other side)  Architect  - "They will get sun lite from a sky light" Why is the end wall solid w/o windows.   Architect - "That's were a future expansion will go"  Duh, I though the buzz words included "building for the future".  We can't have windows until that time in the future?

You should see Spectrum’s HR in Bridgewater. All open space. Every desk borders another with no separation. The only rooms they have are those collaboration rooms. There is zero privacy. They went all in on the open concept when it first became a thing. I personally couldn’t handle that. Having an office where you can close a door to get stuff done uninterrupted is a godsend. The only plus for their office is everyone can see out the windows. Not a great trade-off, IMO.

[MJLO]

11 hours ago, Raildude's dad said:

I want to throw up when I read stuff like this. Spin doctors buzz words that mean what??????????  

OMG you have no idea.  Going from automotive to health care has been more challenging than I thought in terms of mindset.  I'm used to engineers and execs that swear in meetings and have no time for BS.  Everything that is put out in healthcare is one buzz phrase connected to another.  I feel like i'm constantly trying to solve riddles, or understand how to apply whatever fluffy phrase to whatever it is I'm trying to do.

 

[organsnyder]

16 hours ago, GRLaker said:

You should see Spectrum’s HR in Bridgewater. All open space. Every desk borders another with no separation. The only rooms they have are those collaboration rooms. There is zero privacy. They went all in on the open concept when it first became a thing. I personally couldn’t handle that. Having an office where you can close a door to get stuff done uninterrupted is a godsend. The only plus for their office is everyone can see out the windows. Not a great trade-off, IMO.

25 Ottawa is the same way. It was one of the reasons I left.

[Prankster]

The bottom line is downtown is about to lose a lot of employees, and have a lot of square feet going back on the market.  And they missed out once again on landing a new corporate office.

I really don’t see how this could be a positive for the downtown area. 

[discgrab21]

On 6/22/2019 at 7:09 AM, GRLaker said:

You should see Spectrum’s HR in Bridgewater. All open space. Every desk borders another with no separation. The only rooms they have are those collaboration rooms. There is zero privacy. They went all in on the open concept when it first became a thing. I personally couldn’t handle that. Having an office where you can close a door to get stuff done uninterrupted is a godsend. The only plus for their office is everyone can see out the windows. Not a great trade-off, IMO.

Its also been found to hinder, rather than enhance both efficiency and interpersonal communication throughout the work day.  People in "open concept" work spaces are more likely to use email than seek somebody out for face-to-face or telephone communication. 

"Overall, face-to-face time decreased by around 70 percent across the participating employees, on average, with email use increasing by between 22 percent and 50 percent (depending on the estimation method used)," says the British Psychological Society Research Digest blog, summing up the results."

https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/new-harvard-study-you-open-plan-office-is-making-your-team-less-collaborative.html

Google "open office workspace"  The entire first page is articles commenting on their failure.  (I occurs to me that google algorithms manipulate the results, but I think the jury has come in on the issue).