Spectrum Health is building a $37 million rehab and nursing center at 1226 Cedar St. NE in Grand Rapids. The building is expected to open in spring 2024. (Rendering provided by Spectrum Health)

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — BHSH Spectrum Health West Michigan hosted a groundbreaking Thursday for a 120-bed rehab and nursing center on Cedar Street NE that aims to provide a more comfortable, home-like atmosphere for long-term patients who require round-the-clock care.

The building, which represents a $37 million investment by Spectrum, is expected to open in spring 2024, and will replace the Grand Rapids-based health system’s current long-term care building located nearby at 750 Fuller Ave. NE.

“Compared to what our patients have at the Fuller campus now, it’s going to be like moving into a Cadillac facility,” said Chad Tuttle, senior vice president of hospital and post-acute operations at Spectrum.

Located at the corner of Cedar Street and Fuller Avenue, the building will be-two stories tall, and include a mix of semi-private and private rooms.

It will also include an on-site dialysis center, five beds for acute hospice care, as well as therapeutic programs such as art therapy.

In addition, every room has a window, and every patient — even those in semi-private rooms — will be separated by a wall, providing a greater sense of privacy, Tuttle said. The building will serve residents who suffer from developmental disabilities, diseases or injuries, and who require 24/7 care.

“The rooms here are more spacious, everybody will have a window here to the outside, they will have on-grade access to courtyards and the ability to get outside,” he said. “Whereas right now the Fuller campus is six-stories, and there’s an elevator ride, and there’s not a very large courtyard available.”

The new nursing and rehab center joins at least two other large construction projects being undertaken by Spectrum in Grand Rapids.

The health system broke ground last month on a 240,000-square-foot building, located across the street from Butterworth Hospital on Michigan Street, that will house outpatient services such as heart and vascular and neurosciences clinics. It’s also building a $98.7 million administrative office complex along Monroe Avenue NW in downtown Grand Rapids.

Speaking at Thursday’s groundbreaking, Tuttle said the average length of stay at Spectrum’s long-term care facilities is for about four or five years, though some patients have been there even longer. He recalled one patient who stayed at the Fuller facility for 19 years.

Spectrum took ownership of its Fuller campus from Kent County in 1999.

The building, which Tuttle said is over 100 years old, was designed as a short-term, acute care hospital with the average patient stay numbering in the low-single digits. Once Spectrum vacates the building in 2024, ownership will revert to Kent County. County officials have not made any decisions about what will happen to the building, said county spokesperson Lori Lathem.

“We are currently conducting a study to determine future anticipated space needs,” she said. “This property will be factored into our strategic facility planning to resolve present space needs, meeting future anticipated needs, and meeting the needs of county residents.”

The new long-term care facility is one of two buildings Spectrum is constructing to replace its Fuller campus. The Fuller campus is licensed for 250 beds, though Spectrum was only using about 180 of those beds.

The other building, located at 1001 Leffingwell Ave. NE, is under construction and expected to open winter of 2024. It will house 80-beds, and will serve patients who need short-term rehabilitation, with the average stay estimated at 15 days, Tuttle said.

A patient and nurse at the Fuller long-term care facility who attended the groundbreaking said they are looking forward to the new Cedar Street building.

“It’s beyond exciting to have a new outlook, new doors, new rooms to make it practical for us to care for our residents but also comfortable for them,” said Brittany Leaks, a nigh shift supervisor who has worked at Spectrum’s Fuller campus for eight years and provided design input for the new Cedar Street building.

Officials also highlighted the benefit of having an on-site dialysis center at the new Cedar Street building. Dialysis is a procedure used to remove waste and harmful chemicals from the blood when a patient’s kidneys stop working.

“It will improve quality of life for the perspective of not having to go off-site to receive care,” Tuttle said. “Right now residents who receive weekly dialysis, they can go our three times a week to receive dialysis, and that’s multiple transports to an off-site facility where there may be care teams that aren’t quite as familiar to them.”

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