August 2020
Setting the Final Beam: Doug Meijer Medical Innovation Building Tops Out
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Walsh Construction and Rockford Construction have achieved a major milestone at the Doug Meijer Medical Innovation Building with the hoisting of the final steel beam atop the new seven-story building. Representatives from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine joined Doug Meijer, project stakeholders and construction team leaders to sign the commemorative beam ahead of the 200-ton Link Belt 298 crawler crane raising the last piece of steel up to its final destination.
After 10 months of construction, the project stands 60 percent complete with nearly 56,000 work hours invested at the prominent location on Michigan State's Grand Rapids campus. The structure is supported by 283 auger cast piles and consists of 2,462 pieces of steel, in addition to the 572 pieces of precast for the adjacent 598-car parking deck.
The 211,000-square foot, state-of-the-art medical facility will create a collaborative and innovative environment focused on healthcare and life sciences, research, and testing. Tenants will represent varied fields of medical science and treatment including cancer care, neurodevelopment, artificial intelligence, mental health, and the development of medical devices. The clinic will also include one of the world's most advanced cyclotron equipped radiopharmacies.
Ahead of the topping out, Walsh and Rockford achieved another milestone in late July with the installation of skewed entry columns, one of the most architecturally compelling features of the medical innovation building.
The building is named after Doug Meijer, whose generous donation to the project was the catalyst for the construction of a theranostics clinic and The Radiopharmacy within the Medical Innovation Building. The Radiopharmacy provides cancer treatment through a personalized approach using diagnosis and therapy tools.
The Doug Meijer Medical Innovation Building is being developed and constructed by Health Innovation Partners - a real estate development joint venture between Walsh Investors, Rockford Construction and Murphy Development Group through a public- private partnership with Michigan State University. SmithGroup is also serving as the project's lead architect. Construction began in November 2019, and the project is slated for completion in late 2021.