By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

After years of planning, legal battles and construction, Grandview Medical Center is officially open. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held for the new hospital facility on Friday, Oct. 2.

The ribbon cutting was attended by numerous hospital officials and members of the medical staff, along with state, county and city officials.

“While we stand here and look at this beautiful facility, just think about the many lives this building will see come through its doors,” Birmingham Mayor William Bell said.

Located on U.S. 280 just east of Interstate 459, the Grandview Medical Center campus holds a 1 million square-foot, 372-bed hospital and 220,000 square-foot physician’s office building. Grandview Medical Center will employ a total of nearly 1,500 people, and 400 physicians.

“This is just a building, its bricks and mortar,” Community Health Systems Board Chairman and CEO Wayne Smith said. “It’s really about the doctors and nurses and other employees… it’s really about hope and healing, that’s what it’s about when it’s all said and done.”

Fitted with the latest in medical technology and staffed with quality doctors and nurses, Smith said Grandview Medical Center will raise the level of health care in the Birmingham area.

“Medicine will forever change come October 10 in Birmingham, Alabama,” Smith said. “This facility will be the number one hospital in terms of quality.”

Grandview Medical Center will also impact the area’s economy. In addition to providing jobs at the hospital, Grandview Medical Center will act as the anchor for a planned commercial development on the campus.

“Today is a milestone, not only for advanced health care, but also for economic development,” Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey said. “This is going to be a true economic engine for this area… Truly, this is a big day for Birmingham and this is a big day for Alabama.”

Although the ribbon was cut on the facility, Grandview Medical Center will not truly open for business until Oct. 10. Beginning at 6 a.m., patients from Trinity Medical Center will be transferred to Grandview Medical Center. After the last patient has been transported, the Montclair Road location will be closed and all operations will be housed at Grandview Medical Center.

“I want you to remember what we went through to get here, seven years of battles,” Grandview Medical Center President and CEO Keith Granger said. “The battle was longer than it needed to be, but we prevailed.”