Cost to build Windsor mega hospital increases past $2-billion estimate

Construction costs have increased for Windsor’s new acute care hospital. CTV Windsor’s Stefanie Masotti has more.

The cost to the build the newly named Fancsy Family Hospital in Windsor has increased ‘significantly’ with hospital officials not yet revealing the new estimated costs.

The name of the hospital was revealed Tuesday in recognition of the late John Thomas Fancsy, who willed his $40 million estate to the Windsor Regional Hospital Foundation.

In 2014, officials said the estimated cost of the project at County Road 42 and the 9th Concession was $2 billion.

Through an agreement between the City of Windsor and the provincial government, the province offered to pay 90 per cent of the bill.

David Musyj, past president of Windsor Regional Hospital and special advisor on the project, said the $40 million donation will go a long way, however over the past seven years construction and hospital equipment costs have risen.

“We continually have to revisit the cost of the project and when we do have more of a definitive cost, we’ll be working with the community, the city, the county, and moving forward, but right now that is still a work in progress,” Musyj said.

Musyj said government officials don’t want to reveal the exact costs prior to going to tender to keep the market competitive.

“You could ask me today and tomorrow I’ll give you a different number, but other than to say the number we were using before is significantly understated,” he said.

Musyj said they are constructing a 2 million square foot facility, which is 50 to 60 per cent larger than Met and Ouellette campuses combined.

“It’s not big for the sake of being big. It’s big because we need the spaces. We need the single-family rooms, single-patient rooms, we need bigger Ors (operation rooms),” Musyj said.

“If you walk through the hallways of Met and Ouellette, you can see how cramped where we have equipment out in the hallways. We’ve got to get away from that, where patients and families can come to visit and not have to stumble over stretchers in the hallway.”

Musyj said very shortly they will have more information to share about the project.

In June, an update provided said the procurement process was delayed three months with the request for quotation expected to happen around September, and groundbreaking expected early 2026.

Windsor Regional Hospital will also undergo a corporate renaming process to better reflect the evolution of the organization.

Officials said the process will launch in the fall and will include significant community engagement.

- Written by Dustin Coffman and Rob Hindi/AM800 News.