Joint Venture Seeks to Bring Community Development in Healthcare to Detroit

A community development sponsored by Henry Ford Health, Tom Gores and the Detroit Pistons, and Michigan State University intends to invest $2.5 billion over the next decade to turn Detroit’s New Center neighborhood into a community with residential, commercial, retail, recreational and healthcare components. 

The development will be anchored by a reimagined Henry Ford Health academic healthcare campus, the highlight of which is a major expansion of Henry Ford Hospital including a brand new one-million-square-foot plus facility and patient tower. It also includes a new medical research facility for Henry Ford Health and Michigan State University Health Sciences. 

The plan includes a significant expansion of the partnership between Henry Ford Health and Mr. Gores and the Detroit Pistons, who joined on a $137 million facility in 2019 that relocated the Pistons franchise back to Detroit and into the new Henry Ford Detroit Pistons Performance Center and Center for Athletic Medicine on Second Avenue adjacent to New Center. 

 Renderings shared detail the initial conceptual areas of focus for future development in creating a unique destination to live, work and play in a community that supports tomorrow’s healthcare advances, drives economic growth and inclusion, and provides a new welcoming and accessible urban environment. 

Many higher acuity services will transfer to the new building, including an expanded emergency department with universal rooms and specialized space for trauma and behavioral healthcare; acute and intensive care units, operating suites, cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology labs, diagnostic and interventional radiology and other interventional procedures space. 

In addition to the new building, Henry Ford Health plans to integrate and connect its Detroit facilities through a series of tunnels, bridges, and walkways to ensure seamless travel, as well as infuse green space. With Henry Ford Health’s Board of Directors expected to approve the plan, the health system hopes to break ground in 2024 and will release more details as plans are finalized.