UofM plans $920M Hospital

An new stadium for an NFL team will cost ~2B, and it's nowhere near as complex as a hospital.  The detail in construction requirements; the number of fail safe systems; piping; electrical work; networking infrastructure; pathways/routing for tables, gurneys, and equipment; sealed environments for infectious/hazardous/biologic contaminates; specialized piece part storage on every level, in every corridor; medical equipment; calibration/maintenance facilities; medical laboratories...

I could go on, but maybe you get the point?  A hospital is fucking complex and has to be done right.  It's not the number of rooms - its the support necessary for each of the many different styles of rooms.  This isn't like building a fucking apartment building, where all you need is plumbing, HVAC, and electric run to each unit.

If you'd read the article, you'd know that it's not just 264 rooms, but 690,000 square feet of space. That's $1,300 per square foot.

I'm no construction manager, but I'd guess that given the neurosurgery and neuroscience specialty spaces and the corresponding specialized equipment costs, $1,300 per square foot is, well, what it costs to build such a space.

Also, this was in the works long before Schlissel set foot on campus. The Kresge buildings were approved for demolition in 2009 and even in the preceding years, it was always known that the site would be used to construct a new hospital building.