The transformation of TCF Center from the state’s largest convention center in Detroit to a 1,000-bed field hospital is ahead of schedule and it will be ready to open for the challenging task of treating coronavirus patients by April 8. Members of the Michigan National Guard were rolling hospital beds into the rooms Saturday, the 2,100 feet of copper piping that will feed oxygen into the 600 makeshift rooms in Hall C had been hung, and the sinks that will anchor the several dozen nursing stations at the field hospital were being installed. “They need these beds for the people who are sick, so that alone is enough to come down here and do it for those reasons," said Daniel Calderon of Detroit, a carpenter with the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights Local 687. “You can either stay home and stay safe or you can come and put the beds up for the people who are sick — and yeah, we’d rather be putting them up.” TCF had originally been slated to be ready for patients by April 9. Calderon was working with other union carpenters Jeremy Reynolds, of Marysville, and Sharon McClinton, of Detroit, helping put up the curtains that will shield coronavirus patients. They have been on the job for four days, along with many other skilled trades workers, including pipefitters, plumbers and electrical workers. The job came at a good time for the workers because work had dried up for them after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered Michiganders to stay home and nonessential businesses to close. “We all weren’t working anywhere,” McClinton said. “Our whole industry is shut down right now.” The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, along with the skilled trades crews hired through TCF Center, are the forces behind the conversion of the convention center. The state is leasing TCF, formerly known as the Cobo Convention Center, through Sept. 30 at a cost of nearly $8.2 million. “The neat thing about this is even before the ink on the contract was dry, the crews already were starting work. And so there are some incredible things going on in the halls,” said Army Corps Major General Bob Whittle, deputy commanding general for the Corps of Engineers and the commander of the Great Lakes vision. “I've really never seen anything like it. Everyone is leaning forward because they want to help the citizens of Detroit and Michigan. And they're incredibly brave to do it,” Whittle added, talking about the crews that were building out TCF. “It's not when you’re in a foreign conflict and bullets are coming at you. Instead, it's an invisible virus that's out there. And so these people are incredibly brave out here working in the face of that virus.” The Corps has evaluated 15 sites in Michigan, including the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, as potential locations for another field hospital in the state, but it will be up to Whitmer to determine whether another site is needed. As of Saturday afternoon, 14,225 Michiganders had tested positive for coronavirus and 540 had died. Of the 1,000 beds at the TCF Center, 600 will house coronavirus patients who are sick but not in need of a ventilator. The other 400 beds in the lower level of TCF will be set aside for patients who are less ill and considered recovering from the virus. Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal