The Cincinnati Business Courier reports...

 

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has announced plans for a $115 million, 11-story research facility.

 

The 363,000-square-foot building will be located on the hospital's main campus and will house labs, research facilities, offices and the Center for Computational Medicine, which brings together scientists in a number of fields including human genetics, epidemiology, environmental health, mathematics, medicine and biomedical engineering. The center was funded last fall with a grant of $25.2 million from the state of Ohio's Third Frontier Project.

 

"This new facility will provide the lab and office space we need to expand our research programs and recruit new clinical faculty," said James Anderson, CEO of Children's, in a news release.

 

The building will allow scientists to be clustered according to interest and themes rather than academic department or division. Immunology researchers could share space with scientists in the fields of hematology/oncology, allergy or rheumatology, for example.

 

"This innovative design will provide a fertile, synergistic environment that fosters increased productivity, increases our National Institutes of Health grant funding and enables Cincinnati Children's to achieve its mission of being the leader in improving child health," said Dr. David Williams, director of experimental hematology for the hospital.

 

The project will be financed through a combination of debt and fund raising, according to a news release. Construction is set to begin this summer, with a target completion date of 2007. Children's said it has selected a design team that includes GBBN Architects, Messer Construction, Fosdick & Hilmer Inc. and THP Ltd. Inc.

Thats very good news.

First renderings i have seen at GBBN's website....

http://www.gbbn.com/index.lasso?pgID=74&pfID=360&pfImgID=303

 

Pretty sharp!

Yeah, pretty nice.

There are several projects going on at Children's.  I'm not sure which one this is, but they applied for a permit for a 416,000 square foot "commercial addition" at 240 Albert Sabin.  It looks like the "shell only" cost is $13 million.

Interior fit-out is beginning.  I should get over there and get some pics.  It's just such a hassle, though.

They have just recently completed several of their projects. Here is the $115M, 11-story research tower:

 

1. Looking east

 

2. You can see the building in the background. The building in the foreground is a new medical addition to University Hospital.

 

3. This was completed several years ago

 

4. And here is a construction pic of another project across the street on Burnett.

Cincinnati Children’s eyes new research tower

Project would serve growing need for lab space

Business Courier by James Ritchie, Staff Reporter

Date: Friday, March 23, 2012, 6:00am EDT - Last Modified: Friday, March 23, 2012, 9:29am EDT

 

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center might build a research tower on its main campus in Avondale that would be similar to the 11-story, $116 million facility it completed in 2007, sources told the Business Courier.

 

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/print-edition/2012/03/23/cincinnati-childrens-eyes-new.html

Wow--

 

I love the fierce competition (obviously not a real competition) between uptown and downtown for the most jobs!!!  It's great for the City that both job centers are seeing so much investment.

 

I recently heard someone from Uptown Consortium say that as of the last official count, there were MORE (just barely) jobs in Uptown than downtown.  It's something like 60,000 jobs in Uptown and 57,000 jobs downtown. 

 

The Cincinnati MSA has 1.1 million jobs in 15 counties over thousands and thousands of square miles of land.  Downtown and uptown are no more than 6 square miles (and that's probably exaggerating).  I bet the math would show that 10% of the MSA's jobs are in about .5% of its total area.  Getting these two job centers connected by the streetcar will be key. 

 

 

Now I do wish there was a way that Christ Hospital & Children's Hospital's major new investment projects could leverage some residential development in their respective neighborhoods... That would be ideal. 

Children's plans to begin construction on a 15-story, $180 million research tower later in June.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2012/04/24/cincinnati-childrens-confirms-plan-to.html

New tower-  Looks like big brother of older tower.

 

What else can be said, except that the building will prove to be a significant addition to an already renowned hospital.

Nice - another 425,000 square feet for Children's - it looks like this will be used to draw more scientists from outside the region (there are already a few on my street so they must have a good number), which is an added bonus.  They have been good to our economy and quality of life.

Cincinnati Children's announces expansion plans

Barrett J. Brunsman Staff reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center announced Tuesday that it will soon begin construction on two projects in Butler County’s Liberty Township that are expected to cost a total of $162 million.

 

Construction will begin before the end of this year on a center to conduct proton therapy and research for cancer treatment at the Liberty Campus. The estimated cost of $118 million includes construction and all medical equipment, a spokesman told me. It is expected to take three years to complete

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2013/09/03/cincinnati-childrens-announces.html

Photos from 11/30/13:

 

 

 

 

^great pics. Is it topped out, or will there be another floor?

 

Cincinnati hospital’s $180M research tower takes shape (photos)

Barrett J. Brunsman Staff reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

The outer shell of the $180 million Clinical Sciences Building being constructed at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center is 75 percent complete.

 

Aerial photographs, taken from a helicopter last month, show that work continues on the east side, but the front of the 15-story tower in Avondale is nearly done. Construction began in June 2012 and is to be completed by summer 2015.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2014/05/cincinnati-hospital-s-180m-research-tower-takes.html

This is turning into a pretty nice building.  It's a shame that the hospitals are building better buildings than we're getting downtown and on the riverfront.

^ I agree... that's why I'd love to see Children's (or one of the other big hospitals) build a new facility downtown or by the river.

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital plans $300 million expansion

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center has engaged construction and design firms to plan a $300 million expansion, which would include a new patient tower.

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/02/26/exclusive-cincinnati-children-s-hospital-plans-300.html

 

(content only available to subscribers)

Here is a free follow up article to the paid one above.

 

ANALYSIS: Here’s why Cincinnati Children’s is continuing massive expansion

Feb 26, 2016, 2:03pm EST

Barrett J. Brunsman

Staff reporter

Cincinnati Business Courier

 

Hospitals pump about $17 billion into the local economy every year, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center is one of the major drivers in terms of both jobs and construction projects.

 

The Business Courier broke the news today that the hospital has engaged construction and design firms to plan for what could be at least a $300 million expansion at its main campus in Avondale. For details, click here.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/02/26/analysis-here-s-why-cincinnati-children-s-is.html

The firms working on the Children's expansion have been announced:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/05/18/cincinnati-children-s-reveals-firms-working-on.html

 

Messer Construction of Bond Hill is working with Portland-based ZGF Architects LLC and the national firm Concord Healthcare, which specializes in complex medical construction, to help hospital leaders develop options regarding the expansion of clinical care space.

 

Other firms hired to help with the planning phase of the project include GBBN of downtown Cincinnati, Fosdick & Hilmer engineering services firm of downtown, Jacobs Construction of downtown, TriVersity Construction of Norwood and the national group Affiliated Engineers Inc.

 

Final recommendations about cost, specific location, scope and size of the project will come out of the team’s work, according to the hospital. Total cost of the project could range as high as $500 million, according to Business Courier sources.

Children's has a new logo hanging on the side of the hospital.  I don't know why they thought they needed a new logo, given that the old one with the boy and girl hi-fiving was ten years old at most.  The new one is confusing and feminine. 

Much like children.

I wouldn't call it "feminine", especially since there isn't anything wrong with a brand being feminine... but I am not a fan of the new logo because it has too many elements, shapes and colors. The old logo wasn't anything amazing, but at least it worked in single-color applications. With the new logo, I can't see how it will look good across various applications (printing black-and-white, embroidering on clothes, back-lit signage, etc).

 

The Business Courier had an article on the new logo back in March:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/03/22/exclusive-cincinnati-children-s-launches-7m.html

 

Here is the Style Guide (from 2006) for Children's that shows how the old logo could be used in a variety of applications:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/224802/ChildrensStyleGuide.pdf

 

Remember if you don't rebrand children will stop getting sick.

Remember if you don't rebrand children will stop getting sick.

 

I went there for an X-ray sometime in the mid-80s as a follow-up to what would now be termed a parkour/backyard wrestling accident.  You went down in the basement, there was exposed ductwork everywhere, and the walls were cinderblock painted an annoying yellow "Soviet" color.  There were some random murals of giraffes on roller skates and other stuff like that painted by nurses or amateur volunteers.  Finally you get down to the X-ray room and the thing was from the 60s or thereabouts.  They threw a well-worn lead blanket on you of a similar vintage, and that gave you the confidence that you were getting the sort of dose of radiation that you could brag to your friends about. 

 

People wonder why medical costs are out of control, and I'd like to see how much cosmetics and marketing play into it all.

 

 

 

 

Cincinnati Children’s gets key approval for massive expansion

Jun 16, 2017, 2:52pm EDT Updated Jun 16, 2017, 2:59pm EDT

Chris Wetterich

Staff reporter and columnist

Cincinnati Business Courier

 

Over the objections of the Avondale Community Council, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital got the approvals needed from the Cincinnati Planning Commission to embark on a major expansion.

 

Planning commissioners approved the measures needed to build a $300 million to $500 million project consisting of a new patient tower and parking garage extension unanimously and without comment.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/06/16/cincinnati-children-s-gets-key-approval-for.html

 

New Erkenbrecker Ave. under construction an could open by June.  Shocking number of historic homes have been demolished, and another 7-8 are fenced off on the south side of the original part of Erkenbrecker near the zoo.  After that only 4 or 5 structure will remain on the south side of the street between Children's and Vine St. 

 

 

And yet Yvettes actions were framed as why won't anyone think of the poor multi billion dollar hospital.... absolutely disgusting.

From last Sunday, April 22.

 

New Erkenbrecker:

 

 

New garage:

 

 

 

Multifamilies used to surround this turnaround:

 

 

Doctor leaves in his Porche:

 

Doomed stretch of Erkenbrecker:

 

$600 million new tower will occupy this space:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New driveway behind strip of houses that used to face Herne:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Such a shame. They are not creating walkable, enjoyable streets, which they could do through thoughtful design/integrated mix of uses/adaptive reuse. The question isn’t a matter of affording to do so, it’s a lack of concern for the idea of a city being anything more than an economic engine. No one can imagine people actually wanting to be on these streets and spend time there and so they aren’t, and they won’t.

^That area is Hyde Park-quality housing and walkability.  I'm sure that it was a great area when it was new and all of these homes and buildings could be restored. 

 

 

 

Hospitals do what dey want

 

 

 

 

 

"Sometimes we have to move a road to help a hospital." —John Cranley

The same thing is happening right now in Toledo, where ProMedica tore down half of a relatively healthy neighborhood and is relocating a road that was literally opened in 2013, because it’s fine to not plan ahead when it comes to roads and hospital expansions. I know it’s nearly impossible to make a political case for forcing hospitals to get creative with their sites, but Lord knows I’m sick of watching them build these inhospitable fortresses. Does this happen in every “eds and meds” town or is it a uniquely Ohio phenomenon at this point?

As someone who has lived in multiple "eds and meds" towns it feels like a uniquely Ohio thing. Philly has done the best at developing areas around their hospitals I think. Here are some examples.

 

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (multiple buildings) and Wills Eye Hospital (curved building) fit in perfectly to the urban fabric:

 

 

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia share a huge campus in the right of the photo but notice they didn't blow the streets out into huge multi-lane highways and they have mostly fit into the neighborhood. You can actually walk and bike around them and not feel like you're going to get hit by a car:

 

It's definitely not a unique Ohio problem, in fact outside of a few older Northeastern cities I think most big city medical centers are similarly 'inhospitable fortresses' and many of them disrupt the prevailing street grid. The Ohio examples just happened to have nice neighborhoods adjacent to their hospitals, where Indianapolis, Denver and new cities usually don't. In Chicago and Lexington, they are demolishing housing, but are at least keeping the existing street grid. Just adding skywalks over the existing roads.

 

Lexington has demolished half of the single best party/tailgating street at UK to add a Shriner's Childrens Hospital and a parking garage.

 

Look at the Houston medical center. It's like a mid-sized city, but with only 4 large boulevards cutting around and through, and the rest of the buildings connected by a network of skywalks and parking garages. It's insanely huge.

As someone who has lived in multiple "eds and meds" towns it feels like a uniquely Ohio thing. Philly has done the best at developing areas around their hospitals I think. Here are some examples.

 

It definitely is not a uniquely "Ohio" problem... I think it has more to do with whether or not there are other competing interests for land use. In an urban area like downtown Philly, there are lots of constraints that limit how hospitals grow outwards. In a place like Durham, NC... Duke Hospital can grow like a blob more-or-less unrestrained by other land use competition. In Denver, the main hospitals moved out of downtown to suburban Aurora (about 10 miles east of downtown) so they could have a massive campus where they could grow with fewer constraints.

As someone who has lived in multiple "eds and meds" towns it feels like a uniquely Ohio thing. Philly has done the best at developing areas around their hospitals I think. Here are some examples.

 

It definitely is not a uniquely "Ohio" problem... I think it has more to do with whether or not there are other competing interests for land use. In an urban area like downtown Philly, there are lots of constraints that limit how hospitals grow outwards. In a place like Durham, NC... Duke Hospital can grow like a blob more-or-less unrestrained by other land use competition. In Denver, the main hospitals moved out of downtown to suburban Aurora (about 10 miles east of downtown) so they could have a massive campus where they could grow with fewer constraints.

 

This is a good point. I don't REALLY think it is unique to Ohio. I definitely overstated that. But it feels frustratingly bad in Ohio. One thing about the uptown hospitals in Cincinnati is that they WERE surrounded by an urban area and we have mostly obliterated it, tearing down all the buildings and turning the streets into highways. One would expect hospitals in Denver or Houston to be located in suburban-like settings based on the history of those cities. But Cincinnati is almost as old as the major east coast cities so there is a defined, built-out street grid and a very urban feeling core. We haven't respected the established built environment at all.

^I've often said that it would have been really innovative if in the 70s and 80s, the Cleveland Clinic had renovated the "second downtown" area around Euclid and E 105th into doctor offices and the like, effectively creating a little "medical-oriented downtown" kind of like what the Mayo Clinic has done with most of Rochester MN. I'm sure Christ could have also done something unique with Glencoe Place, but when you know you're not going to get any community pushback whatsoever, it's so much easier to just keep doing what you've always done.

Springfield turned their downtown into an asphalt desert for the hospital.

That's another great instance of relocating a street for no apparent reason instead of just building a bridge over the road.

As someone who has lived in multiple "eds and meds" towns it feels like a uniquely Ohio thing. Philly has done the best at developing areas around their hospitals I think. Here are some examples.

 

It definitely is not a uniquely "Ohio" problem... I think it has more to do with whether or not there are other competing interests for land use. In an urban area like downtown Philly, there are lots of constraints that limit how hospitals grow outwards. In a place like Durham, NC... Duke Hospital can grow like a blob more-or-less unrestrained by other land use competition. In Denver, the main hospitals moved out of downtown to suburban Aurora (about 10 miles east of downtown) so they could have a massive campus where they could grow with fewer constraints.

 

This is a good point. I don't REALLY think it is unique to Ohio. I definitely overstated that. But it feels frustratingly bad in Ohio. One thing about the uptown hospitals in Cincinnati is that they WERE surrounded by an urban area and we have mostly obliterated it, tearing down all the buildings and turning the streets into highways. One would expect hospitals in Denver or Houston to be located in suburban-like settings based on the history of those cities. But Cincinnati is almost as old as the major east coast cities so there is a defined, built-out street grid and a very urban feeling core. We haven't respected the established built environment at all.

 

Agreed. I'm especially peeved that Cincinnati Children's owns empty lots along Burnet and could have built their tower in a way that would have made Burnet Ave into an attractive neighborhood business district. But nope. They're just growing like a blob, street grid and neighborhood be damned.

Springfield turned their downtown into an asphalt desert for the hospital.

I'm not familiar with Springfield, but from a mile up on Google Maps I could spot where the street takes a comically absurd curve. Yikes that's bad. Especially since it's simply diverting around surface parking. I mean... is traffic really so bad in Springfield that people can't walk across the street? If it is that bad, maybe they should look at slowing down traffic? Those massive 1-way streets of North and Columbia look ridiculously over built. I-70 bypasses around Springfield, so it doesn't seem like there's any need to prioritize high speed through-traffic in downtown.

Has Children's finished demolishing properties for this expansion, or are some of these homes pictured here going to also come down? It's truly a shame how more and more historic building stock is being removed, even if it is to accommodate growth of a truly great and globally respected institution. I remember reading that Children's invested money in the Port Authority to renovate 40 (maybe getting the number wrong) homes in Avondale, to try to jump start the revitalization of the residential portions of the neighborhood. I hope we see much more of that, and that Children's can finally start being a beneficial force for the neighborhood.

Has Children's finished demolishing properties for this expansion, or are some of these homes pictured here going to also come down? It's truly a shame how more and more historic building stock is being removed, even if it is to accommodate growth of a truly great and globally respected institution. I remember reading that Children's invested money in the Port Authority to renovate 40 (maybe getting the number wrong) homes in Avondale, to try to jump start the revitalization of the residential portions of the neighborhood. I hope we see much more of that, and that Children's can finally start being a beneficial force for the neighborhood.

 

I would expect that demolition of the area between the Zoo and the VA will continue until there is nothing left. 

 

I heard a rumor that the zoo is planning a parking garage and a second pedestrian bridge for the block between Erkenbrecker and Louis, but I haven't read anything to that effect. 

 

 

Has Children's finished demolishing properties for this expansion, or are some of these homes pictured here going to also come down? It's truly a shame how more and more historic building stock is being removed, even if it is to accommodate growth of a truly great and globally respected institution. I remember reading that Children's invested money in the Port Authority to renovate 40 (maybe getting the number wrong) homes in Avondale, to try to jump start the revitalization of the residential portions of the neighborhood. I hope we see much more of that, and that Children's can finally start being a beneficial force for the neighborhood.

 

I would expect that demolition of the area between the Zoo and the VA will continue until there is nothing left. 

 

 

 

 

die by my hand

I creep across the land

 

I'm Creeping Death

I can't imagine there are any true private property owners left in that area between the zoo, children's and the VA.  Children's isn't even demolishing all the houses they own around there.  Just a matter of time!

Springfield turned their downtown into an asphalt desert for the hospital.

 

Springfield's hospital was the site of old brownfield industrial buildings. They were obsolete and not serving a practical use anymore. Tearing them down brought jobs and people closer to the center of town.