MSU hikes housing costs, paves way for construction of $335M research center in Detroit

First-year students attending Michigan State University in 2024-25 will pay $12,564 annually for basic housing and dining.

The cost is an $810 increase, approved Friday by the MSU Board of Trustees, over 2023-24 rates to cover inflation and campus housing renovation costs. MSU did not increase the basic, double housing and dining rates for second-year students; they will remain at $11,754 annually.

Trustees also approved construction of the $335 million Henry Ford Health + Michigan State University Health Sciences Research Center in Detroit during the last board meeting of the academic year and the first for MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz.

The biomedical research center is part of a massive $3 billion “Future of Health” development that will also include a new 877-bed hospital and residential and recreational developments in the Detroit neighborhoods of Elijah McCoy, New Center and Northwest Goldberg. Besides Henry Ford Health and MSU, the Detroit Pistons are also part of the project being hailed as historic.

The seven-story, 335,000-square-foot research facility will be MSU's largest research facility to date and will house more than 80 principal investigator teams. Research is expected to include cancer, neuroscience, immunology and public health, with an emphasis on addressing health inequities and disparities and the social determinants of health.

The Nick Gilbert Neurofibromatosis Research Institute will occupy an entire floor of the building. It is named after the late son of Detroit investor Dan Gilbert and wife, Jennifer. Nick Gilbert graduated from MSU in 2019 but died last year at the age of 26 after succumbing to neurofibromatosis, a condition leading to tumors forming in the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. Funded by the Gilbert Family Foundation, it will be the first brick-and-mortar institute solely dedicated to neurofibromatosis, offering opportunities for collaboration across the partnership and with researchers from around the globe, officials said.“MSU has a long history of working in Detroit, and our partnership with Henry Ford Health allows us an even greater impact on the health of those in the city and across the state," Guskiewicz said. "As Spartans, collaborating to advance the common good is in our DNA, and we look forward to working with our partners to address health equity and other grand challenges of our time."The Henry Ford Health + Michigan State University Health Sciences Research Center will be located near the intersection of Amsterdam Street and Third Avenue in Detroit. It will be owned by MSU and jointly funded and operated by the university and Henry Ford Health, officials said.On Friday, trustees approved authorizing a ground lease with Henry Ford Health for land the building will stand on. Construction is expected to begin next month and end by 2027.

Henry Ford Health has been pursuing clinical research for more than 100 years. Recently, more than 130 researchers from the hospital system joined the Michigan State University faculty, officials said.“This unique affiliation between our integrated academic health system and MSU will reshape and reimagine how health care is delivered in the city, state and beyond,” Bob Riney, president and CEO of Henry Ford Health, said in a statement. "We are advancing collaboration and discovery in ways that would not be possible as separate entities. We are proud to have this research center as the first on our new campus to break ground, as we anticipate continued transformational development to the entire Detroit campus."

kkozlowski@detroitnews.com