The Cardinal Health Medical Distribution Center (Cardinal Health) was developed by KIRCO as a state-of-the-art medical distribution facility for Cardinal Health to service Henry Ford Health System, Detroit Medical Center, and other local medical centers. The development was intended by Henry Ford Health System to be the inaugural project for its comprehensive community redevelopment plan which will improve hundreds of blighted, contaminated and obsolete properties south of the Detroit hospital campus into a thriving mixed-use neighborhood with residential, commercial, and med-tech businesses.

The redevelopment consisted of a newly constructed 275,000 square foot distribution facility on 19.93-acres and represented a new investment of approximately $32,000,000 for site preparation activities, remediation activities, site development and vertical construction. The redevelopment incorporates many state-of-the-art design elements including a passive vapor mitigation system and highly efficient mechanical and electrical systems monitored by an elaborate system of direct digital controls.

The site was assembled from 80 individual properties and contained 23 blighted structures requiring hazardous material surveys, abatement, and demolition before redevelopment. These properties included vacant lots, vacant residential homes, commercial parcels, a variety of industrial buildings/properties, and streets and alleys that would require abandonment.  A number of the properties required processing through the Land Bank to quiet title in order to provide an insurable title. Acquisition of the final parcels included in the project occurred concurrently with the final site plan, building design, municipal approval and Brownfield Incentive approval processes. All these critical approvals occurred during the City of Detroit bankruptcy proceedings, the largest municipal bankruptcy in United States history.