Regents at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., have approved plans to build a new adult hospital at the academic medical center of the University of Michigan. The new 12-story hospital will house 264 private rooms capable of converting to intensive care, and will include a neurological and neurosurgical center, specialty care services for cardiovascular and thoracic patients, and advanced imaging.

The university’s Board of Regents unanimously approved the five-year project, with a projected cost of $920 million. This vote follows two previous Board of Regents decisions in 2018 to explore the feasibility of the project. The new 690,000-square-foot hospital will provide more access to care for adult patients at Michigan Medicine, where current hospital facilities often operate at more than 90% capacity.

In an effort to reduce its carbon footprint, Michigan Medicine is working with its team of architects and engineers to achieve LEED Gold status for the project. When completed in fall 2024, the hospital is expected to exceed current energy efficiency standards by about 20 percent compared to the State of Michigan building code for energy performance.

The new hospital was designed with lean principles for efficiency of flow and responsiveness to user needs. It will include:
• family spaces throughout and space for loved ones to visit in each patient room;
• centralized collaboration spaces in each patient area to enhance continuity of care;
• two floors with 20 operating rooms built with the latest technology, many larger than Michigan Medicine’s current ORs and three interventional radiology suites; and
• patient rooms that allow for more complex care, including capability for all spaces to support intensive care.

The new adult inpatient hospital will allow the relocation of 110 beds currently in semi-private rooms at University Hospital to the new hospital. As a result, all Michigan Medicine inpatient beds will be single private rooms. After construction of the new rooms and relocation of the existing beds, the project will add a total of 154 new beds to the medical campus.

The building will be constructed adjacent to the Frankel Cardiovascular Center, with plans for bridge and tunnel connections to existing inpatient care facilities. An average of 370 on-site construction jobs is projected, and the preliminary estimate of new full-time jobs once the hospital opens is 1,600.

Planning for incremental parking, transportation, and roadway improvements is underway. Funding for the project will be provided from Michigan Medicine resources, but Michigan Medicine also is launching a philanthropic campaign.