Sandusky’s new McKenzie hospital is on track to see patients by August 2027, its CEO tells Sanilac commissioners

SANDUSKY, Mich. — McKenzie Health System’s new hospital in Sandusky is on pace to begin treating patients by August 2027, about a year after construction started, the health system’s chief executive told the Sanilac County Board of Commissioners.

“We hope we’re seeing patients no later than August of next year,” CEO and President Steve Barnett said at the board’s Oct. 6 meeting, according to Sanilac County News. He described the project as “relatively on schedule, on budget.”

The exterior of the roughly 72,000-square-foot building is largely finished in stone and brick, and crews are moving inside, the paper reported. Barnett said the building should reach substantial completion in a little under 180 days, or about mid-April. Workers are also finishing site work so a first layer of asphalt can go down before winter and cut down on mud.

The $74 million hospital is going up on the city’s west side, behind businesses along West Sanilac Avenue (M-46). It will replace McKenzie’s existing hospital downtown, a building of about 45,000 square feet that was built in 1967 and was expanded in 1973, 1980 and 1998, Sanilac County News reported.

Plans call for an 18-bed critical access hospital that offers all of McKenzie’s current services, with more room for outpatient care such as surgery and infusion therapy, according to the health system’s project FAQ. A later phase would add connected space so Sandusky’s family and specialty clinics can move to the same campus.

The health system says a U.S. Department of Agriculture loan covers all or most of the construction cost and that the hospital is not a burden on taxpayers. McKenzie “is not supported by taxpayer dollars and never has been,” the FAQ says.

Some groundwork is still underway. McKenzie is creating wetlands elsewhere to make up for those it will develop on the site, and a former Shell gas station on the property will be cleaned up to serve as the main drive into the hospital, Barnett told commissioners, according to the paper.

Barnett’s report traced the project back to planning that began in 2000; it was delayed by the pandemic before ground was broken in October 2025. Crews placed the final structural steel beam in July. After construction wraps up, the building still needs inspections and equipment and furniture installation, the FAQ notes, and the health system has said the timeline is an estimate.

Sources:
Sanilac County News, “New hospital projected to open by Aug,” Oct. 14, 2026, https://sanilaccountynews.com/articles/new-hospital-projected-to-open-by-aug/
McKenzie Health System, “New Hospital Project (Chrysalis Project) Frequently Asked Questions,” https://www.mckenziehealth.org/documents/hospital%20build/Hospital-Building-FAQs.pdf
McKenzie Health System, “Final Steel Beam Marks Major Milestone for McKenzie Health System’s New Hospital,” July 2026, https://www.mckenziehealth.org/news/2026/july/final-steel-beam-placed-on-mckenzie-health-syste/
Image: AI-generated illustration by The Mitten Daily.

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