Sign of the times as former Beaumont gets temporary Corewell sign

GROSSE POINTE CITY — To paraphrase a Bob Dylan song, the signs, they are a-changin’. Along with a new name, the former Beaumont Hospital, Grosse Pointe, is getting a new sign.

Until permanent signs can be created and installed, the hospital, located at 468 Cadieux Road, is getting a temporary banner sign that will read “Corewell Health: The new name to Beaumont.” The Grosse Pointe City Council voted unanimously to approve the temporary banner during a May 8 meeting.

Associate City Planner Gage Belko, of McKenna Associates, said the City typically prohibits banner signs, which is one of the reasons why the council had to approve the proposal.

“We’re not opposed to this sign being there, at least temporarily. … It’s facing Jefferson (Avenue), but it’s really far back (from the road),” Belko said.

While the new banner is 63.8 square feet, it’s replacing a larger Beaumont banner sign that has been in the same place on the hospital for some time, despite having apparently never been reviewed by the City Council or administrators.

“It just got there,” City Councilman Donald Parthum Jr. said. “It was never approved.”

Given that the new sign will be significantly smaller, “This is an improvement,” Parthum said.

The temporary banner sign is expected to be in place for roughly nine months. While Beaumont had a master sign plan in place with the City, Belko said Corewell officials will need to meet with the planners and administrators to come up with a new master sign plan, as new signs are expected for the hospital campus overall to reflect the name change. Belko said Corewell has until the end of the year to come up with this sign plan.

Andrew Castillo, project manager of Signworks of Michigan, said the banner would be hung within the next month or so.

Castillo said they need to have the temporary sign up for about nine months because of the amount of time it’s expected to take to design and produce new signs for the hospital.

At press time, he said they were “still coming up with designs” for the Grosse Pointe facility to “make sure (they’re) aesthetically pleasing.”

“That’s the only place Corewell is going to put their name at the moment?” City Councilwoman Maureen Juip asked of the banner.

Castillo said yes, for now, until the new permanent signs can be created and installed.

City officials said that if the new proposed permanent Corewell signs fit within the confines of existing Beaumont signage, they could be approved administratively, without having to go before the council again.