HealthSouth holds formal groundbreaking for new office location

Those who frequent Liberty Parkway are already aware of the development and construction in the 9000 block, but today HealthSouth formally broke ground at the site of its future home office.

Senior members of the HealthSouth team, as well as a few prominent community members gathered Monday morning to officially celebrate the project getting underway.

Current president and CEO Jay Grinney opened the remarks by emphasizing how they are referring to the new building as HealthSouth's "home office," not its headquarters or main office, because having a home in Birmingham is an important thing to the company, and that it was important to the company that their new office remain in the city.

"We consider ourselves a friend of this city," Grinney said.

Grinney said moving the company's main operation center to a different location was something he realized on his first day in 2004 needed to happen. In 2008, the company sold the land its current office sits on, and Grinney said he knew the company finally had a path to that final goal.

On Jan. 1, 2017, Grinney will be replaced by Mark Tarr, the current COO and vice president, and Grinney said he is excited about Tarr's and the rest of the leadership team's ability to reposition the company.

Tarr also spoke at the ceremony, describing the vision for the seven-story building that will be able to house up to 660 employees.

"It's going to be very daylight oriented," Tarr said, commenting on the open layout, open staircases and use of glass in the design.

The new facility will also have a water feature, large and small meeting spaces, and a cafeteria and coffee bar. In keeping with HealthSouth's healhy-living wellness program, the new facility will also feature a 1/4 mile jogging track as well as a fitness center.

Tarr said the building will also have state-of-the-art energy saving technologies to cut down on its environmental impact.

Tarr and Grinney both thanked Robert Simon of Corporate Realty, who had a major role in the design of the facility, as well as Bradfield & Gorrie, which is handling the construction.

Birmingham Mayor William Bell, Sr. joined the HealthSouth team at the ceremony and expressed his thanks for the company's support of the city, and thinks the continued partnership is a good thing for the entire Birmingham area. He also praised HealthSouth's rebound from its economic and public relations crises of the early 2000s. He compared the company to Batman and Superman, saying that if the heroes didn't have a villain to rise to the occasion against, their achievements wouldn't mean much.

Joining the senior management team at the ground breaking were three of HealthSouth's longest-tenured employees: Lynne Lee, who has been at the company for 33 years; Terrence Hamm, who has been with the company for 35 years; and Deborah Warlick, who has worked at the company for 42 years.

The new office building is expected to open in the spring of 2018.