Medical Mile/Michigan Street Developments

[GRDadof3]

That's totally not true. Just take a look at the renderings and construction cam. It won't even block half the park:

[GRDadof3]

It's got to be well over 4000 spaces total. Unbelievable.

The steel on Tower 25 (25 Michigan NE) is going up fast. I love it!

[GRDadof3]

Looks like they are about to give this section the old "heave ho". Good riddance. Many of the newer sections they added on to the old Butterworth Hospital are just atrocious.

[beergeek]

It's got to be well over 4000 spaces total. Unbelievable.

That's for patients, visitors, and employees. Plus there's employee parking in a church out on Crescent, plus the big surface lot between the GVSU Cook center and McDonalds, and a huge employee lot out east on Michigan, between Fuller and Plymouth (I believe where the bowling alley used to be?).

[tamias6]

Dang! Already? Steel sure goes up allot faster than cast concrete.

It's got to be well over 4000 spaces total. Unbelievable.

The steel on Tower 25 (25 Michigan NE) is going up fast. I love it!

[tamias6]

Could be the start of excavation for the building's core.

I noticed a little bit of that when I took that pano above yours - there was a little hole forming in the middle of that lot.

Edited March 9, 2007 by tamias6

[GrSportsGuy]

That's totally not true. Just take a look at the renderings and construction cam. It won't even block half the park:

Well, phase 2 will go almost to the stairwell which is a good chunk of the park. After that, the court building is pretty much all you will see.

Edited March 10, 2007 by GrSportsGuy

[tamias6]

Here's a shot of the new Cancer Center's steel work looming in the distance over the Old GRAM and other buildings.

[rleuthueser]

That's for patients, visitors, and employees. Plus there's employee parking in a church out on Crescent, plus the big surface lot between the GVSU Cook center and McDonalds, and a huge employee lot out east on Michigan, between Fuller and Plymouth (I believe where the bowling alley used to be?).

Spectrum's only leasing a portion of the parking structure. There's a system of gates and access cards that allow specific use groups limited access to avoid domination of parking spaces by an organization. Van Andel has a similar agreement in place, as will MSU when the med school paperwork is finalized.

[sparky05]

Starting to see the shape of the balconies over the lobby area coming together:

[sparky05]

March 15, 2007:

[sparky05]

BOOOORING!

[sparky05]

Pano of the FRIGGIN' HUGE MASSIVE DEVELOPMENT:

[Grandrapidsne]

Is the Rd thats blocked off gonna be reopened after this project is done or will it be removed? because in the rendering it looks like its gone.

[torgo]

This whole project is absolutely massive.

[sparky05]

If I didn't know better, I'd say it was Duane Faust that put this thing together. It's so massive, it's positively Faustian.

[joeDowntown]

Now that they are busting out "newer" sections of the hospital and exposing some of the older sections, does anyone know if they will be doing work on these original sections to make them look better? I think it is great to see the older, ornate areas of the hospital and would love to see some of the nice arch windows be put back to use. Right now, they are bricked over and overlooked.

Joe

[GRDadof3]

Man, I can't decide which I'm more excited about: 270' of steel rising here with a 318' tall spire, or 406' of concrete rising at River House? I love steel, so I'm leaning that way, but 406' of anything is pretty sweet.

Sorry for the unabashed giddiness. Must be the sunny weather.

joe, I wonder too what the transition area between the new tower and the old hospital will look like up close. The only renovations announced so far are to the front lobby area of the hospital.

[sparky05]

Man, I can't decide which I'm more excited about: 270' of steel rising here with a 318' tall spire, or 406' of concrete rising at River House? I love steel, so I'm leaning that way, but 406' of anything is pretty sweet.

Sorry for the unabashed giddiness. Must be the sunny weather.

Height trumps materials.

IMHO, of course.

[torgo]

Man, I can't decide which I'm more excited about: 270' of steel rising here with a 318' tall spire, or 406' of concrete rising at River House? I love steel, so I'm leaning that way, but 406' of anything is pretty sweet.

Sorry for the unabashed giddiness. Must be the sunny weather.

I gotta go with 406' too.

[beergeek]

Now that they are busting out "newer" sections of the hospital and exposing some of the older sections, does anyone know if they will be doing work on these original sections to make them look better? I think it is great to see the older, ornate areas of the hospital and would love to see some of the nice arch windows be put back to use. Right now, they are bricked over and overlooked.

Great question, as an employee I haven't heard hardly a peep about what will happen to the older parts of the hospital. Oncology services at Blodgett will be shut down in a year or so, and brought over to Butterworth. There's been some talk about moving the Burn Center to Butterworth as well, but that's been on the drawing board for years and years.

I know our IT department (think of what the Spectrum Health IT abbreviation is!) is having major headaches concerning the west building right now. As the hospital moves towards more and more electronic records, bar coded-meds, etc, it's painfully evident how inadequate the older parts of the hospital are. Lack of ethernet ports for internet connectivity, limited wifi strength due to the thick/heavy walls; shoot, there aren't even enough electrical plugs to run all the computers they'll eventually need. The rooms are tiny (about 1/4 of what the Heart Center's are).

Will you settle for pure conjecture? The West building is on its last legs. Currently, it houses the nutrition department (where all the food for the patients is made), outpatient surgery beds, neonatal ICU, and 2 med-surg floors. The NICU will go to the new HDVCH. The rest could easily get rolled into what will be open space in the center building once all peds services are gone (I believe center bld was constructed in 1980s?). Then, bye-bye west building, and the next big area of focus gets built on the existing site. Maybe solid organ transplant (something still pretty much limited to U-M)?? Neurosciences (copying St. Mary's)?? Who knows!

[GRDadof3]

Great question, as an employee I haven't heard hardly a peep about what will happen to the older parts of the hospital. Oncology services at Blodgett will be shut down in a year or so, and brought over to Butterworth. There's been some talk about moving the Burn Center to Butterworth as well, but that's been on the drawing board for years and years.

I know our IT department (think of what the Spectrum Health IT abbreviation is!) is having major headaches concerning the west building right now. As the hospital moves towards more and more electronic records, bar coded-meds, etc, it's painfully evident how inadequate the older parts of the hospital are. Lack of ethernet ports for internet connectivity, limited wifi strength due to the thick/heavy walls; shoot, there aren't even enough electrical plugs to run all the computers they'll eventually need. The rooms are tiny (about 1/4 of what the Heart Center's are).

Will you settle for pure conjecture? The West building is on its last legs. Currently, it houses the nutrition department (where all the food for the patients is made), outpatient surgery beds, neonatal ICU, and 2 med-surg floors. The NICU will go to the new HDVCH. The rest could easily get rolled into what will be open space in the center building once all peds services are gone (I believe center bld was constructed in 1980s?). Then, bye-bye west building, and the next big area of focus gets built on the existing site. Maybe solid organ transplant (something still pretty much limited to U-M)?? Neurosciences (copying St. Mary's)?? Who knows!

Diabetes Research? Shameless plug for my daughter.

Hey when is Priority Health going to take the plunge and move downtown? They're bursting at the seams in the Waters complex on the Beltline. They've swallowed up space in all three of those buildings, and have even taken over a building on Leonard that I think used to be a credit union or dentists office.

[joeDowntown]

Now that would be a great addition to downtown! Would probably facilitate the need for a new mid-size office tower.

Diabetes Research? Shameless plug for my daughter.

Hey when is Priority Health going to take the plunge and move downtown? They're bursting at the seams in the Waters complex on the Beltline. They've swallowed up space in all three of those buildings, and have even taken over a building on Leonard that I think used to be a credit union or dentists office.

[GRDadof3]

Rise, rise, rise!!

[sparky05]

Rise, rise, rise!!

Is there a thread for that building? Should there be?

I got the same shot yesterday, except PANORAMIC!

Ride THE RAPID to medical hill...

And the Cancer Center keeps getting more impressive: