Health system plans downtown building for 1,200 employees

Health system plans downtown building for 1,200 employees

Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital was founded in 1873 and is part of the Spectrum Health Medical Center in downtown Grand Rapids. Courtesy Spectrum Health

A local health system is planning to construct a major new building downtown.

Grand Rapids-based Spectrum Health plans to construct a new administration and training building in Grand Rapids' Monroe North neighborhood, the system said last week in an email to the Business Journal.

The facility would be at 706 and 725 Bond Ave. NW, according to a public hearing notice posted by Kent County this month.

The health system was initially planning the facility on land it owns southwest of the Cornerstone University campus in Grand Rapids, at Leffingwell Avenue NE and Bradford Street NE, the Business Journal reported in June.

Spectrum Health plans to discontinue 26 leases and consolidate 1,200 people from multiple departments into the facility, called the Center for Transformation and Innovation, the system said last week.

The building will house several offices — including for human resources, finance, facilities management, the medical group and other back-office functions — to “achieve efficiencies of scale through optimization of meeting rooms and learning opportunities,” Spectrum said in June.

Some of the offices will be moving from spaces along Medical Mile, which can then be used for expanded clinical services.

The center will be a “contemporary” learning center that will help promote innovation, transformation, advancements and new developments within the system.

Spectrum is still in the planning process and working out many of the details.

Occupancy is expected to begin in 2022.

Spectrum did not disclose the project's cost.

Gill Industries occupies two buildings on the Monroe North properties, which are across Bond Avenue from each other. The lot at 725 Bond Ave. NW includes a 9,702-square-foot building, according to Kent County records. The lot at 706 Bond Ave. NW includes a 109,750-square-foot building.

The assessed value of the two Bond Avenue properties and buildings is $2.16 million, according to county property records.

The company did not respond to a Business Journal inquiry at press time.