Construction Begins on GR’s Secchia Center

by Jaime Pfeffer

April 30th, 2008 in Careers, East Lansing, Grand Rapids, Lansing / Jackson, Resources, West Michigan

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Downtown Grand Rapids has welcomed a number of new developments in the past year, from new lofts and condos to retail space and restaurants.

Soon, the area will become home to yet another monumental development: the Secchia Center, which will serve as the west Michigan home of Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine. Groundbreaking for the state-of-the-art facility took place last week.

“From the outside, the design fits the plans and visions of the region,” said MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon. “But it will also be signature in terms of what is inside too, with state-of-the-art instructional technologies and a community, health and education partnership that is truly unique to medical education.”

The $90 million, seven-story, 180,000-square-foot facility will include teaching laboratories, classrooms, offices and student areas. It will be located in downtown Grand Rapids, at the base of Michigan Street hill at Division Avenue, across from the Van Andel Institute and Spectrum Health.

This fall, MSU College of Human Medicine second-year students will begin studies in a leased facility in Grand Rapids. The college plans to enroll its inaugural class of 100 first-year students in GR in 2010, when the new facility opens. Once the program is at full capacity, enrollment in Grand Rapids will be approximately 400 students.

Along with providing education to the next generation of physicians, the college’s presence in Grand Rapids will focus much of its attention on biomedical research. Working with its partners, MSU faculty and students will conduct research in five cluster areas, which include cancer, obesity, cardiovascular disease, arthritis and neurobiology.

One of Detroit's biggest cheerleaders, Jaime Pfeffer moved to the Motor City from suburban Detroit five years ago. She started a blog, Girl in the D, in September 2004 to promote the positive aspects of Detroit and hasn't stopped touting Motown's good side since. Jaime left corporate America in 2007 to pursue her first love, writing.