Henry Ford plans $500 million hospital expansion, redevelopment in Detroit

[innercitydoc]

UPDATE: Jan. 4, 2015 - Click Here for Recent Discussion

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Original Opening post from April-05-10
Seems like great news in light of the Vanguard purchase of the DMC. This could further reinforce the need for the M1 light rail project.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100...ent-in-Detroit

[artds]

Cool. I wonder if it will be anything like the ridiculously awesome hospital they just built in West Bloomfield.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hfwbh/3292210255/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hfwbh/s...7610087314194/

Probably not, but maybe.

[Detroitnerd]

Expect lots more wonderful parking, and plenty of demolitions in the area. Yay.

[Gistok]

Expect lots more wonderful parking, and plenty of demolitions in the area. Yay.

I see the naysaying has started.... next will be the folks who absolutely hate the street grid plan being replaced by superblocks...

Lots of construction jobs followed by lots of medical jobs... it's a win-win for Detroit.

[Detroitnerd]

I see the naysaying has started.... next will be the folks who absolutely hate the street grid plan being replaced by superblocks...

Lots of construction jobs followed by lots of medical jobs... it's a win-win for Detroit.

Oh, yes. I know the drill. Anytime somebody has a bone to pick with a project, they are a "naysayer." How pat!

So, all of you who have a problem with the way Detroit champions big developments as a panacea for its problems, while reserving cumbersome regulations, high taxes and "suggested philanthropy" for small mom-and-pop businesses, you needn't say anything. Too much negativity!

Anybody have a problem with the way our historic street grid is being subsumed for big, campus-style projects and lots of parking? Shut up, please. Too negative!

Or maybe you question the "eds and meds" strategy of urban redevelopment? Sorry, that goes against our glorious "win-win" narrative. Shut your mouth! Negativity!

Gistok, are you familiar with a good, old-fashioned debate? Perhaps you would prefer it if this forum were simply a string of inspiring press releases? Positivity! Win-win!

[Gistok]

Oh, yes. I know the drill. Anytime somebody has a bone to pick with a project, they are a "naysayer." How pat!

So, all of you who have a problem with the way Detroit champions big developments as a panacea for its problems, while reserving cumbersome regulations, high taxes and "suggested philanthropy" for small mom-and-pop businesses, you needn't say anything. Too much negativity!

Anybody have a problem with the way our historic street grid is being subsumed for big, campus-style projects and lots of parking? Shut up, please. Too negative!

Or maybe you question the "eds and meds" strategy of urban redevelopment? Sorry, that goes against our glorious "win-win" narrative. Shut your mouth! Negativity!

Gistok, are you familiar with a good, old-fashioned debate? Perhaps you would prefer it if this forum were simply a string of inspiring press releases? Positivity! Win-win!

Detroitnerd... you forgot the comments on how many poor Detroit schoolchildren that $500 million could feed....

But since you love to be the proverbial "turd in the punchbowl"... let me go find that DYES Connections thread you started about 1 1/2 years ago where you were asking why so many people were picking on you since they seem to find so many of your posts unpleasant.... [[mostly incessant sarcasm)... you must not have read all the replies or taken their advice...

But getting back to the topic at hand.... how can anyone argue that possibly doubling their [[near) New Center campus is bad? Should they have built it in the suburbs? I think not....

[East Detroit]

Oh, yes. I know the drill. Anytime somebody has a bone to pick with a project, they are a "naysayer." How pat!
Gistok, are you familiar with a good, old-fashioned debate?

Your original comment was quite "pat" and didn't really have the depth for any type of debate. Surely, you can admit that about this:

Expect lots more wonderful parking, and plenty of demolitions in the area. Yay.

[Gsgeorge]

Anybody have a problem with the way our historic street grid is being subsumed for big, campus-style projects and lots of parking? Shut up, please. Too negative!

Reading the article, it appears this is not the approach. The plan is an 'urban' campus. Read it carefully:

Henry Ford's half-billion dollar investment would finance two parts of the plan -- a south campus, which calls for construction of new medical offices spaces with retail and commercial space on the ground floor, and additions to its main campus.

One option for its south campus plan is to revamp Trumbull Avenue, which cuts south from West Grand Boulevard and would serve as a major thoroughfare through the campus. On its main campus, Henry Ford is considering a new surgical center, emergency department, cancer institute and 210-bed inpatient tower.

A walkway similar to the structure that links the two buildings housing the Somerset Collection mall over Big Beaver Road in Troy could also span West Grand Boulevard and connect the main medical center to the south campus, Schramm said.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100405/BIZ/4050386/Henry-Ford-plans-$500M-hospital-expansion--redevelopment-in-Detroit#ixzz0kGX4dsBk

Med offices with ground-floor retail does not say "superblock" to me.

[1KielsonDrive]

Cool. I wonder if it will be anything like the ridiculously awesome hospital they just built in West Bloomfield.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hfwbh/3292210255/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hfwbh/s...7610087314194/

Probably not, but maybe.

Maybe is the operative word here. Let's keep our hopes up and our fingers crossed.

[HazenPingree]

Cool. I wonder if it will be anything like the ridiculously awesome hospital they just built in West Bloomfield.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hfwbh/3292210255/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hfwbh/s...7610087314194/

Probably not, but maybe.

Like the atrium in FAB on Wayne's campus?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/candied...re/3282725990/

The exterior is dreadful, but the atrium of FAB is a nice touch.

[1KielsonDrive]

I suspect this refutes the communist, totalitarian, socialist, fascist, tyrannical [[and any other sensational terms that have been applied) takeover of our health care system by the federal government. Why would these gigantic health care systems be investing so much?

[English]

I suspect this refutes the communist, totalitarian, socialist, fascist, tyrannical [[and any other sensational terms that have been applied) takeover of our health care system by the federal government. Why would these gigantic health care systems be investing so much?

Listening to talk radio, I've learned that the real trouble will begin on January 1, 2011 once premiums are renewed.

Then, when the sun rises as usual on New Year's Day 2011, we will begin hearing about the coming health care apocalypse in 2014. Which is odd, because I thought it was common knowledge that the world was going to end in December 2012.

[1KielsonDrive]

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100...ent-in-Detroit

Seems like great news in light of the Vanguard purchase of the DMC. This could further reinforce the need for the M1 light rail project.

I suspect and hope you are correct.

[Gsgeorge]

Sounds great -- the plan to redevelop Trumbull/Lincoln north of the tracks and south of the Boulevard seems smart and sustainable. That stretch, currently lined by derelict structures and large parking lots, could be the beginnings of a truly happening urban district. Its unique street grid and proximity to the New Center 'downtown' could be huge contributing factors to its future viability.

[Gistok]

Since HFH wants to improve the neigborhood, perhaps nicer homes that are in the planned footprint could be relocated as infill farther west on W. Grand Boulevard where residential property has already been razed. In that way it could help the area between the HFH campus and the Motown Museum.

[Detroitnerd]

Since HFH wants to improve the neigborhood, perhaps nicer homes that are in the planned footprint could be relocated as infill farther west on W. Grand Boulevard where residential property has already been razed. In that way it could help the area between the HFH campus and the Motown Museum.

Now that I would like to see!

[BVos]

As a real life urban planner who trained in the field, works in the field and has lots of experience doing urban development, I do have real concerns about the street grid and the urban design of the project. While it's really great to have development, we also have to keep in mind that these buildings are going to be around for 40-50+ years. If these projects are going to be truly transformative and spin off related for-profit development, the pedestrian and mass-transit experience has to be a key consideration to any building design.

Hearing things like the street grid needs to be altered, based on Henry Ford's development to date in the city, brings up red flags. Their headquarters right now sits by itself. The original hospital building is very nicely designed and situated, but the additions effectively turn their back to the neighborhood. They'd have to radically part from past designs to achieve what they say they want to achieve.

Now I'm not one to say that eliminating streets is automatically bad, but the area south of Henry Ford has a great street grid with blocks that can support large buildings even clusters of buildings on multiple blocks. I'm skeptical that super-blocking will result in good design that results in the proposed spin off development.

[Wallins]

The people in the neighborhood had no say in Ford Hospital's new plans. Like a thief in the night, the hospital slowly and systematically began to buy up property under their for profit real estate company. It took some time to identify who was leaving the property vacant and open as well as the actual buyer. The early people who sold to the hospital got very little for their property. The white strippers came in during the day in their new trucks and vans and the crack heads and drunks came in during the night. It got so dangerous, we were afraid to go to bed at night for fear of being burned out. Our homes were built around 1915, many of them had french doors, beamed ceilings, fireplaces, sunrooms, etc. I always felt the tile around my fireplace and vestibule was Pewabic tile. Ford Hospital NEVER had any committment to the surrounding neighborhood. For thirty years, I met with hospital directors requesting their help in stabilizing the neighborhood. Only one person in Security showed any interest and he aided in shutting down drug houses when crack started to take over the area. I finally sold my home to the hospital, after much pressure from my family and one of their open and vacant houses directly behind me became a drug house. Ford Hospital contributed to the blight, they now claim to be some kind of hero for eliminating. The very thought of the hospital compromising our safety and destroying the neighborhood continues to piss me off. I suspect the area south of the Blvd. will be a giant parking lot and the new medical buildings will be built in the present parking lots along Byron and Pallister.

[Gistok]

Wallins.... wow... just wow.... thanks for giving us a "local" perspective....

I can understand the need for secrecy on the part of Henry Ford Hospital.... it would just invite speculators.... but at the same time their actions did nothing to help the community from the additional crime that came with emptying and at the same time abandoning those houses.

How ironic that they helped contribute to the complaints that out of town patients and their families had about the area around the hospital...

[Rocko]

I'm not sure about any of you, but I had no idea the scope and footprint of the two expansion projects Henry Ford is envisioning were so large:

From Model D:

Henry Ford Health System has released preliminary plans to invest $500 million to improve its West Grand Boulevard campus and create a 300-acre residential, retail and business development south of the hospital. The overall development strategy includes two plans and two sets of boundaries.

The first, which William Schramm, Henry Ford's vice president of business development, characterizes as "mission-related," could include research and ambulatory care divisions, a surgery center and educational facilities, in what might be termed a south campus of the hospital. Boundaries are W. Grand Blvd., Holden, the Lodge Freeway and Sterling. Properties are being acquired in this targeted area.

The second, which is larger, more ambitious and stretches outside of Henry Ford's core business of health care, is called Community Health Park, and would be bounded by W. Grand Blvd., 14th St., the Lodge Freeway, and I-94. The area would see residential, commercial and retail development, particularly in the areas of "health care-related support services," says Schramm. As for existing interests in the area, which include Recycle Here!, Caraco Pharmaceutical and Research Lofts, Schramm says, "We're not looking to displace...we will continue to work with them."

Henry Ford still needs board approval of the plan and to raise the funds -- both $500 million internally as well as an additional $500 million from outside developers.

Source: William Schramm, HFHS
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

http://modeldmedia.com/devnews/hfhs041310.aspx

Those projects, especially the second one, capture quite a sizeable land area in that part of the city, which currently [[and historically) has served many types of development: residential, commercial, light and heavy industrial. All well and nice for the Hospital to say they want to work with current occupants...let's hope they actually live up to their word and make accomodations for those currently living and working there and incorporating them into the larger plan. It would also be nice if they focused in with a green/sustainable outlook, surveying the currently existing building stock and trying to rehabilitate as many existing structures as they can which fit into their plan. The last thing we need is another suburban style subdivision combined with a suburban business park dropped within the confines of the city, obliterating everything currently there and with only a few entrances and exits, effectively blocking it off from everything else to the same extend that the berms of the RenCen did...

[Detroitnerd]

I'm not sure about any of you, but I had no idea the scope and footprint of the two expansion projects Henry Ford is envisioning were so large:

From Model D:

"The second, which is larger, more ambitious and stretches outside of Henry Ford's core business of health care, is called Community Health Park, and would be bounded by W. Grand Blvd., 14th St., the Lodge Freeway, and I-94. The area would see residential, commercial and retail development, particularly in the areas of "health care-related support services," says Schramm."

Those projects, especially the second one, capture quite a sizeable land area in that part of the city, which currently [[and historically) has served many types of development: residential, commercial, light and heavy industrial. All well and nice for the Hospital to say they want to work with current occupants...let's hope they actually live up to their word and make accomodations for those currently living and working there and incorporating them into the larger plan. It would also be nice if they focused in with a green/sustainable outlook, surveying the currently existing building stock and trying to rehabilitate as many existing structures as they can which fit into their plan. The last thing we need is another suburban style subdivision combined with a suburban business park dropped within the confines of the city, obliterating everything currently there and with only a few entrances and exits, effectively blocking it off from everything else to the same extend that the berms of the RenCen did...

That southern portion is almost one half of a square mile. With spaces that large, you can imagine that much of the land will be devoted to parking lots.

[Huggybear]

Take a look at that site via Google satellite.

Phase I - as it currently is defined - has [[by my rough count)

• 42 existing houses sitting on about 60 lots [[and that is making the big assumption that everything with a peaked roof is habitable residential structure);
• A remaining surface area completely dominated by parking lots and industrial uses; and
• No traditional street grid to speak of, just the clumsy splicing of the "diagonal" streets south of West Grand to the NSEW ones above. These are very long blocks with no side streets.

From this, I would surmise that even if the hospital maliciously destroyed all of the remaining residential property in the footprint of the first phase, it would not be the atrocity that you are claiming. You would not lose much of housing stock [[or much of functional neighborhood, especially along the east side of Trumbull). You would not get additional parking. And you would not damage the sacrosanct "street grid." But malicious wiping-out is the worst-case scenario and one that you seem to have assumed right from the start. The fact that many of the Trumbull and Sterling houses are still there might be indicative of something. But unless someone has seen the plan, it's a little early to be freaking out.

So go to Phase II. That's bigger on the surface, but in addition to some recent demos [[visible by the tracks), it has a fantastic amount of old-growth vacant lots. It's hard to say what entity demolished those houses - based on the distance from the hospital, it might well have been the city. That area has been sinking for quite some time, and as recently as a few years ago, there were a ton of burned-out houses there.

It's probably pointless to herniate over Phase II - since it would be surprising if the redevelopment project got past the first phase. But by the time HFHS got around to it, the Phase II area probably already would have made it onto a list of neighborhoods to be "rightsized." Many of those blocks in Phase II have one house on them. Some blocks are literally half empty.

The "historic" structures that are left in any of this area are not unique in Detroit, nor are there enough of them left that integrating them into a development should be an overarching priority. However it happened, the character of this corner of New Center is long-gone - and it's time to redevelop in a way that makes economic sense.

That southern portion is almost one half of a square mile. With spaces that large, you can imagine that much of the land will be devoted to parking lots.

[innercitydoc]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...ion-New-Center

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

I'm glad that HFH is growing south towards Wayne State. Hopefully this will spur even more development in between the two institutions. It's also nice to see that they are deconstructing properties and that some of the materials will be re-used.

[mwilbert]

And, on the "eds and meds" strategy, am I the only person who thinks it's kind of crazy to devote intense public effort to fostering the expansion of non-profits? It seems a modest question to ask. If indeed the city will have to put additional effort into policing a larger area or routing more traffic, if the fire department has to devote additional resourced to protecting more development, where does this additional money come from? Know what I mean?

I see your point but I don't agree with it. As far as I can see, people generally agree that Midtown is safer than most of the rest of the city at least partially because the WSU police help keep it that way. I'm reasonably sure HFH police currently patrol their own area. New buildings require a tiny fraction of the fire protection resources of old [[and abandoned) ones; it is hard to imagine this will be a significant drain on the fire department.

I think your point about mega-developments being hard to reuse is valid, but it seems to me as if hospital spaces are inherently difficult to reuse.