Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids to Break Ground on $70M Health Building

1921

Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids Wednesday announced it will break ground on a $70-million health building, to be located at 333 Michigan St. on the college’s health campus.

“It is exciting and gratifying to watch our vision of a health campus become a reality with the addition of this third building,” says Thomas J. Haas, president of Grand Valley. “We can accept more students who will fill the talent pipeline needed to care for people now and into the future. With its unique interprofessional health education focus, our students will experience working in health-care teams, a skill demanded by the health-care industry.

“Grand Valley is producing graduates who are work-ready, passing licensure exams well above the national average. We’re meeting the needs of the people of Michigan, which is validated by the state investing in the DeVos Center for Interprofessional Health. We are grateful for the private-public partnerships that are responsible for Grand Valley’s success.”

The five-story, 160,000-square-foot center will be called the Daniel and Pamella DeVos Center for Interprofessional Health and will include 15 classrooms and 14 laboratories for undergraduate and graduate courses.

It will also allow Grand Valley to expand and update its simulation center with double the space. The building will join the Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences and Raleigh J. Finkelstein Hall.

The Kirkhof College of Nursing will be housed in the center, and the expansion will allow for additional programming and the ability to accommodate for more students in the university’s more-than-20 health-science programs. More than 5,000 students are enrolled in Grand Valley’s health-related courses.

The state of Michigan is providing $29 million for the project. The remaining funds will come from private donors and university bonds. Construction is expected to be completed in May 2021. The groundbreaking is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 23.