MACKINAC ISLAND — Henry Ford Health System announced a billion-dollar investment Wednesday that will eventually bring hundreds of jobs, retail and residential to a 300-acre site bordered by I-94, the Lodge Freeway, Rosa Parks Boulevard and Grand Boulevard.

Robert Riney, Henry Ford Health System COO, made the announcement at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference.

The development will be led by a distribution center for the medical supply company Cardinal Health that will provide medical products to both Henry Ford and the nearby Detroit Medical Center hospitals.

The transfer will bring about 140 jobs to Detroit.

But the Cardinal Health distribution center is just the beginning, Riney said. There will also be residential redevelopment, including turning currently vacant industrial buildings into loft space, as well as retail targeted at the medical industry and residences in the area.

Cardinal Health has applied to the Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority for assistance with the 273,000-square-foot distribution center.

Riney said the project will begin later this year. The Cardinal center will be finished about a year after groundbreaking. Riney said fully developing the rest of the 300 acres “will be a longer journey, perhaps 10 years.”

Cardinal Health Inc. is a $103 billion health services company headquartered in Dublin, Ohio.