‘Truly visionary’: Henry Ford Health plans expansion with $2.5 billion project

Henry Ford Health is planning a dramatic expansion in a $2.5 billion expansion project that officials say will transform a Detroit neighborhood. (Image courtesy of Henry Ford Health)

Robert Riney, the president and CEO of Henry Ford Health, said the dollar figure more than once: “$2.5 billion.”

Robert Riney, CEO of Henry Ford Health

That’s the price tag for a massive expansion project for the system. Henry Ford Health is teaming with Tom Gores, owner of the NBA’s Detroit Pistons, and Michigan State University on a project to transform a Detroit neighborhood, with a reimagined healthcare campus at the heart of it. The organizations plan to invest $2.5 billion over the next decade.

The project will include a major expansion of Henry Ford Hospital, including a new facility with more than 1 million square feet of space, and a patient tower, in Detroit’s New Center neighborhood. It also includes a new medical research facility for Henry Ford Health + Michigan State University Health Sciences.

In addition to the healthcare and research facilities, the project will include apartments, retail and commercial elements.

“We are proud beyond words to share that right here, in the very neighborhood where our organization began more than 100 years ago, is where we plan to build a revitalized Henry Ford Hospital and campus that will continue to serve,” Riney said at a news conference last week.

The groundbreaking for the project is slated for 2024, officials said. (See more on the project in this video from Henry Ford Health. The story continues below.)

The “gleaming, innovative facilities” will include a new and larger emergency department, with specialized space for trauma and behavioral healthcare, said Steven Kalkanis, CEO of Henry Ford Medical Group. Officials hope to open the new hospital facility in 2029.

“We’ll have state-of-the-art acute intensive care units, technologically advanced operating suites with space-age navigation equipment to keep our patients safe,” Kalkanis said.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan attended the press event and marveled at the plans.

“This is not the building of a hospital,” Duggan said. “This is the building of a world-class medical institution in an academic setting, tied into the community. I mean, this is truly visionary, what we’re seeing.”

As part of the $2.5 billion project, Henry Ford Health plans a major expansion of Henry Ford Hospital, and a new research building in partnership with Michigan State University. (Image provided by Henry Ford Health)

Teresa Woodruff, interim president of Michigan State University, said she’s looking forward to the construction of the new research facility. Officials said the construction on the research building should begin next year and be completed by 2027.

“This will be indeed the cornerstone of the academic campus, placing MSU and Henry Ford Health scientists, adjacents to educators and clinicians, to better develop a new standard of health for all,” Woodruff said.

In January 2021, Henry Ford Health and Michigan State University announced a 30-year partnership.

“Like all major U.S. cities, our great city of Detroit deserves a premier academic medical center and destination for the most advanced care, research and education,” Riney said.

Gores is leading the construction of two apartment buildings on the campus. Henry Ford Health, Gores and the Detroit Pistons joined on a $137 million facility in 2019 that brought the Pistons franchise back to Detroit and into the Henry Ford Detroit Pistons Performance Center and Center for Athletic Medicine.

“Our plan in Detroit has focused on bringing people and organizations together and creating meaningful partnerships that accelerate growth, create opportunity and contribute to the revitalization of the city,” Gores said in a statement. “We are uniquely positioned and fortunate to have our partners at Henry Ford Health support the reimagination of our shared neighborhood, which will create jobs and housing for a new generation of Detroiters.”

The project comes just months after Riney took over as CEO of Henry Ford Health. He assumed the post last summer, succeeding Wright Lassiter III, who left to take over as CEO of CommonSpirit Health. But Riney is hardly a newcomer. He has held many leadership posts since joining Henry Ford Health in 1978.

Gores praised Riney’s commitment to Henry Ford Health.

“Bob is a passionate leader who has devoted his career to serving the health of the Detroit community, and I look forward to working together to bring our shared vision to reality,” Gores said.