By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
On Friday, October 2 U.S. Representative Gary Palmer (R from Hoover) was among the dignitaries on hand for the Grandview Medical Center Ribbon Cutting in Birmingham, Alabama.
Congressman Palmer said on Facebook, “Today, I attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Grandview Medical Center on Highway 280 in Birmingham. This will be a great addition to the Birmingham medical community, which is already one of the best in the nation.” “Great to see Wayne Smith, Chairman and CEO of Community Health Systems; Keith Granger, President and CEO of Grandview Medical Center, and James Spann, Chairman of the Grandview Board of Trustees.”
Alabama’s most popular TV weatherman, James Spann said, “This Saturday Trinity Medical Center moves to the incredibly beautiful Grandview Medical Center campus on US 280. The old Trinity/Montclair campus was a good home for 50 years… And we look forward to the next 50 years in the new building. I have served as a volunteer on the board at Trinity/Grandview for 9 years, and these are very exciting times for us.”
According to a report by noted Alabama economist Keivan Deravi, Ph.D. there will be enormous economic impact of the Grandview campus and the relocation of Trinity Medical Center. He submitted his report to the Alabama State Health Planning and Development Agency in support of the campus development.
Grandview Medical Center will make high quality hospital care more conveniently to Alabama’s fastest growing community along the U.S. Highway 280 Corridor and generate an economic stimulus that Deravi claims is comparable to an automobile project.
In just the first year of development, activities related to construction and operations of the hospital are expected to generate:
In the first three years of development, the anticipated construction of hotels, office buildings, retail spaces and parking structures could generate a potential $881,258,708 in impact. And the final phase of the Grandview campus development (years four – 14), are anticipated to produce another $482,518,934. According to Deravi’s study, over 15 years, total tax contributions from the development could top $142 million for the City of Birmingham, $37 million for Jefferson County and $48 million for local schools. When the Grandview campus is complete, an estimated 5,500 people could be employed, creating a total economic impact of more than 9,000 local jobs and $405 million in additional annual earnings for the region.
While still in the city limits of Birmingham and in Jefferson County, Grandview Medical Center sitting near the junction of I-459 and Highway 280 is much closer to both growing Shelby County and western and southern Jefferson County than any existing hospital of comparable size,
The project was begun by Healthsouth Founder and CEO Richard Scrushy well over twenty years ago. Construction was well underway when a major accounting scandal forced Scrushy out at Healthsouth and his successors shuttered the ambitious project. Trinity Hospital was looking to move from it’s aging Montclair Road campus to a site in Irondale on Interstate 459. Trinity backed out of that deal to purchase the unfinished digital hospital from Healthsouth. Both Scrushy and former Governor Don Seigelman (D) went to prison on federal corruption charges related to Scrushy’s efforts to get the state Certificate of Need board to approve building the hospital.
Congressman Gary Palmer represents the Sixth Congressional District where the Grandview Medical Center is located.
