Construction on MSU medical innovation center in Grand Rapids to begin this fall

Construction on MSU medical innovation center in Grand Rapids to begin this fall
This map supplied by MSU shows where new buildings and a parking garage are scheduled to be built on the Grand Rapids Research Center campus on Michigan Street.

GRAND RAPIDS — Public and private partners have signed a long-term lease that will pave the way the development of a medical innovation building and parking structure at Michigan State University’s Grand Rapids Research Center campus.

A joint venture of Chicago-based MB Real Estate, Chicago-based Walsh Construction/Walsh Investors and Rockford Construction Co. Inc. of Grand Rapids known as Health Innovation Partners is planning the development at 400 Monroe Ave. NW.

With the signed ground lease, Health Innovation Partners’ plans for a medical innovation building can move forward, with a groundbreaking expected this fall. The project includes a 600-car parking structure, while developers could add a third building in the future.

“The medical innovation building will create an ecosystem to enable synergies between academic medicine, health care delivery systems and industry partners that will join us in the transformation of health,” Dr. Norman Beauchamp Jr., dean of the MSU College of Human Medicine, said in a statement.

“We are excited Health Innovation Partners shares our vision for the advancement of health care, said Beauchamp, who also serves as associate provost and assistant vice president for health affairs at MSU. “We are a community that has the ability to bring health and healing in a way that is so needed by our state and nation.”

The new building will focus on “driving innovation through public-private partnerships” in the areas of research, testing and commercialization of new therapies.

The university and the developers are holding conversations with tenants focused on disciplines like cancer research, neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders, artificial intelligence and medical devices. Several parties are interested in occupying space in the building, which is anticipated to open in late 2021.

The MSU board of trustees approved the public-private partnership between Health Innovation Partners and the university in December. The proposal came after the board issued an RFP in July to continue the development of the downtown Grand Rapids Research Center campus.

MSU’s $88.1 million Grand Rapids Research Center opened downtown in 2017, adding a western anchor to Medical Mile at 400 Monroe Ave. NW, the site of the former Grand Rapids Press headquarters. The latest proposal creates a plan for the second phase of development at the site.