Grand Valley State University administrators received approval from the Board of Trustees at its meeting Nov. 4 to purchase land in downtown Grand Rapids so the university can eventually expand its health care programs.
The 1.6 acre site is adjacent to the university’s Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences on Grand Rapids’ Medical Mile on Michigan Street. Rockford Development Group, LLC assembled the site and offered to sell the property to the university. The 15 parcels are bounded by Hastings and Trowbridge streets and Lafayette and Prospect avenues. Grand Valley will seek board approval to purchase the property for $3.25 million for the expansion of the university’s health care programs.
Grand Valley is the region’s No. 1 provider of health care workers, and 5,000 students currently study in one of the university’s health care programs. Grand Valley’s programs include nursing, physician assistant studies, occupational and physical therapy, radiation therapy and cell and molecular biology and biomedical sciences. The Center for Health Sciences opened in 2003, is full to capacity, and the university needs additional laboratories and classrooms to accommodate enrollment demand. The students and professionals attracted to Grand Valley’s programs and into the area will continue to have a positive economic impact on the city.
“There’s no question that we need to find room for more students who want to study at Grand Valley in one of the health care fields,” President Thomas J. Haas said. “We have obligations as a university to educate the health care workers of our future, and we also understand we have an obligation as an anchor on Grand Rapids’ Medical Mile. That means being responsible to the city and to those who will personally be affected by our expansion plans. We’re excited to continue our investment in the area and we’re committed to being a good neighbor.”
The university plans to purchase the property before the end of the year. Rockford Development Group would manage the site until the university is ready to begin construction.
“This is a tremendous strategic opportunity,” said Kurt Hassberger, chief operating officer at Rockford Construction Company. “This land is uniquely positioned to simultaneously help support the growth of an important community institution and the ongoing redevelopment of an up-and-coming Grand rapids neighborhood. We look forward to growing our partnership with Grand Valley State University and the Neighbors of Belknap Lookout.”
The university is still working on identifying which health-related programs would be placed in a building to be constructed on the Lafayette-Hastings site. Once that is determined, the building will be designed. Residents of the property in the Belknap Lookout neighborhood, most of whom are renters, would be given one year’s notice of the university’s plans to begin developing the site.
