Ceremonial groundbreaking for new Children's Hospital of Michigan Specialty Center

Joint venture shows commitment to the City of Detroit and to each other

Federal, state, and regional legislators and community leaders today join Vanguard Health System's Vice Chairman Keith Pitts, DMC President and CEO Mike Duggan, and Children's Hospital of Michigan President Herman Gray, MD at a ceremonial groundbreaking of the Children's Hospital of Michigan Specialty Center on the campus of the DMC (3950 Beaubien).

The new five level, 105,550 square-foot facility is being designed by Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott (architects), Integrated Design Solutions (mechanical and electrical engineers), Giffels - Webster Engineers (civil and site engineers) and Ehlert/Bryan (structural engineers). The construction contract was awarded to the joint venture team of L.S. Brinker/Barton Malow.

This is the first expansion of the footprint of the Detroit Medical Center central campus in almost three decades, reflecting the health system's commitment to build and grow in the city of Detroit. The Children's Hospital of Michigan Specialty Center will be home to the general pediatrics clinic, adolescent medicine, outpatient rehabilitation, specialty clinics and 200 physician office suites. The project includes convenient, ample, surface-level parking adjacent to the planned facility.

"Children's Hospital of Michigan outpatient volumes have grown significantly in the past several years," said Children's Hospital of Michigan President Herman Gray, MD. "The new specialty center will help us improve access for children we treat today and tomorrow by providing them with a more spacious, child-and-family-friendly environment." In 2009, the Children's Hospital of Michigan saw 246,000 outpatient and emergency department visits from patients throughout the state and beyond.

Construction is anticipated to be completed for the new Children's Hospital of Michigan Specialty Center in early 2012.