Grand River Hospital seeks new plan in parking garage replacement project

Grand River Hospital has announced they are replacing their current parking parking garage, which has been in service for over 50 years.

Doug Murray, the hospital's chief financial officer saidthe hospital is preparing to accept private bids from contractors to conceptualize and execute a solution that would significantly change the site's overall parking capacity.

"We're in the process now where we're retaining a team that will provide detailed specifications that the bidders the contractors the teams will be expected to meet," he said.

These will include factors surrounding the cost, length of construction and the need for interim parking.

Pulling back on the original plan

Originally, the hospital had considered an $85 million strategy, which included demolishing the 80,000 square foot Kaufman building and using the site for the new garage.

But Murray says moving the building's facilities, as well as the financing and construction costs of the project, led the hospital to explore alternative strategies.

No matter what the final project looks like, Murray said replacing the garage is an inevitable investment for the hospital.

"As the structure gets older, a little bit like an old home, you need to repair more frequently as it gets older," Murray said.

"Some of those future repairs start getting more and more expensive and it actually makes sense from an economic perspective to consider construction of a new garage."

Potentialfor private sector partnership

The financing plan for the project has yet to be confirmed, but Murray said the hospital might generate funds by bringing in a private partner after the garage is complete.

"A partner that might actually provide the hospital with some of the some of the funding to buy the facility, and then operate it and retain a portion of the proceeds from parking fees."

Until the size and cost of the garage is established, there is no word on what effect this will have on parking rates.

"The details are something that we'll be working through in the next phase of our planning and design process," Murray said.