GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Construction of Michigan State University's $88 million, six-story biomedical research building officially got underway Thursday morning with a groundbreaking celebration.

Even before the first ceremonial shovels of dirt were turned, Dr. Marsha Rappley, the dean of MSU College of Human Medicine, urged the West Michigan medical community to think of the next phase.

"This is the time to think big," she said on June 18. "This is gaining momentum. We need to be thinking beyond this building here. What is the next level? Where can we take this?"

The new research center, expected to open in 2017, will occupy the seven-acre site at Michigan Street NW and Monroe Avenue that was home to the former Grand Rapids Press building, which was demolished this spring.

It is the beginning of Grand Rapids Innovation Park, said MSU President Lou Ann K. Simon.

The park will be a gateway to the Medical Mile and a magnet attracting business in life sciences and growth in the biotechnology sectors, she said.

It will support the labs for 34 principal investigators and 260 researchers studying a host of medical issues - including Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, pediatric neurology, autism, inflammation, transplants, cancer, genetics, women's health and reproductive medicine. At full capacity, it is expected to support 44 research teams.

The core labs include bioinformatics, flow cytometer, long-term storage, analytical and advanced microscopy.

Local business, health and community leaders hailed the collaboration that led to the new research center as well as its impact on the local economy and medical research.

"Over 200 highly educated individuals will soon be engaged in life-changing research on this site in our city," said Grand Rapids City Commissioner Rosalynn Bliss. The research center will have a ripple effect that will "add to the vibrancy of our city core."

"This really marks a new era for this community," said Bill Manns, president of Mercy Health Saint Mary's. "The sense of coming together, the sense of collaboration, the sense of partnership - you don't see that in other communities and it is absolutely amazing."

The new research facility is part of a long-range strategy that began in 2005, when health and community leaders worked to bring medical education to Grand Rapids. The MSU's College of Human Medicine expanded to include campuses in Grand Rapids and Lansing and moved its headquarters to the Secchia Center, a $90 million privately-funded facility on Michigan Street NW in Grand Rapids.

The Spectrum Health-MSU Alliance was established to draw academic research to Grand Rapids, working in partnership with the Van Andel Institute and Grand Valley State University. As researchers were recruited, the space available for their labs grew scarce.

"We now fully occupy all suitable laboratory space available to MSU in Grand Rapids," Rappley said. "We have the critical mass to warrant a new research center that will benefit not only MSU, but our partnering institutions in collaborative medical research."

AT A GLANCE



The MSU Grand Rapids Research Center will anchor Innovation Park and will be just west of the College of Human Medicine's Secchia Center on Michigan Street NE. Here details about the project:

• The building will be 162,800 square feet and six stories high, with a seventh floor for service equipment.

• Cost is budgeted at $88.1 million.

• Construction manager is a joint venture of Clark Construction Co., of Lansing, and Rockford Construction, of Grand Rapids. Architect is SmithGroupJJR, of Detroit. Laboratory design architect is Ellenzweig, of Cambridge, Mass.

• Location is at the site of the former Grand Rapids Press building, 155 Michigan St. NW

• Copper sheeting recycled from the Grand Rapids Press roof will cover a wall in an interior garden in the lobby.