Board approves Grand Valley health expansion

Grand Valley's Board of Trustees approved funding for an 84,000-square-foot building and two-level parking deck at its meeting on November 4. The building will be built at the corner of Lafayette and Hastings, which is north of Grand Valley's Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences, on the Medical Mile.

The five-story building will include classroom, laboratory and office space to support the College of Health Professions and the Kirkhof College of Nursing. Grand Valley is the region's number one provider of health care professionals.

James Moyer, associate vice president for Facilities Planning, said the building will contain four classrooms, 15 teaching laboratories, a computer lab and 90 faculty and staff offices and parking spaces. The project also includes student study spaces, student organization space and work/break rooms.

The budget, $37.5 million for the building project and $9 million for the parking project, will be funded by donor support, university-issued bonds and campus development funds. Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr and Huber has been selected as the project architect and Rockford Construction Company as the construction manager.

Construction is expected to begin in December and be completed in May 2018.