Blodgett Hospital's $98 million expansion includes rooms with a view

Deborah Johnson Wood

The $98 million expansion of Grand Rapids' Blodgett Hospital converts the entire facility to private rooms – many of which will have a lake view.

"It's an enormous pleasure to look out the windows, because some of the rooms face Fisk Lake," says Derrick Brown, project manager for Spectrum Health Hospital Group. "It's just breathtaking to see the lake and the gorgeous homes. This is the only healthcare facility that I've ever worked on that's had a significant view like that."

Brown says the 162,000-square-foot addition converts the entire hospital to private patient rooms and adds eight operating rooms, bringing the total operating rooms to 14 with space to add four more, if needed.

The four-story LEED project is on budget and on schedule for public tours the week of September 20 and seeing patients the week of October 10, 2010.

The drywall installation is complete on all floors, with final painting and wall coverings underway. The first floor construction is completed and awaiting the arrival of cabinets and nurses' stations, says Brown.

The original plans did not include a basement, but Brown says that was added after construction began.

But even though everything is on schedule, the project has presented its own set of challenges.

"The site has very limited space and we haven't had "lay down" space for building materials," Brown says. "Some portions have been built offsite and brought over; other things, like the steel, came precut and prepped so we were able to move a lot faster."

Throughout the length of the project Brown says Spectrum Health has kept neighbors apprised of what to expect.

"The Blodgett campus is a community hospital, and any time the work will be noisy, create vibrations or we've had to shut down a street, we've communicated that by going door-to-door," Brown says. "I've done this type of work at other hospitals for a number of years and nowhere have we had the interaction with the community that we've had here."

Source: Derrick Brown, Spectrum Health Hospital Group

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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected]. Development News tips can be sent to [email protected].