Colony Park may fall to expansion of Toledo Hospital

Article published October 13, 2004

By CHRISTOPHER D. KIRKPATRICK

BLADE STAFF WRITER

 

Colony Park, at the center of the Northwood neighborhood, also known as Old Colony, is in the way of Toledo Hospital progress, the mayor's office says.  City Council is poised to rezone the 6.3-acre patch for the hospital's commercial office use.

 

The Ohio Department of Transportation also plans to build an interchange through the park to give the hospital direct highway access.  Residents of the neighborhood are also bracing for some sort of hospital expansion on the land. 

 

The park, largely neglected by the city, its residents say, and officially deemed obsolete by the city's Parks, Recreation & Forestry Department, sits behind the North Campus Laboratory of the ProMedica complex near Monroe Street.

 

MORE: http://www.toledoblade.com/article/20041013/NEWS16/410130431

Colony Park rezoning approved by plan panel

Toledo Hospital says site crucial for growth

Article published October 15, 2004

 

The Toledo Plan Commission voted 4-1 yesterday to rezone Colony Park, a 6.3-acre site Toledo Hospital says is crucial for its expansion plans, including placing a $3.5 million to $5 million electrical substation there.  The substation would prevent the Ohio Department of Transportation from choosing at least one of its four options for an I-475 interchange that would touch the park and become the main corridor fronting Toledo Hospital.

 

ProMedica Health System, which owns the hospital, does not have a specific project slated for the park but could fit a 30,000-square-foot building there, officials said.  The rezoning is part of the hospital's $200 million "Renaissance Project" to expand the hospital.  But ProMedica officials have yet to unveil the master expansion plan.

 

MORE: http://www.toledoblade.com/article/20041015/NEWS16/410150443

From the 5/10/05 Toledo Blade:

 

Toledo Hospital construction set for July 1 start

ProMedica requests permission to consolidate campus property

By TOM TROY

BLADE STAFF WRITER

 

ProMedica Health System expects to launch major construction of its $200-million Toledo Hospital Renaissance Project around July 1, according to a zoning request pending before the Toledo Plan Commission.  An application on the plan commission's agenda for 1 p.m. Thursday would consolidate the parcels that make up the hospital's 34-acre complex into one institutional campus with a master plan.  ProMedica's new Toledo Hospital is expected to be completed in 2007, but the entire master plan will be developed over a 5 to 10-year period.

 

The proposed campus extends from North Cove Boulevard to Monroe Street.  Eventually, it is planned to extend across Monroe to I-475.  A key element is the location of a new I-475 interchange.  Toledo Hospital and the city of Toledo are hoping ODOT will build an interchange with more direct access to the hospital than at present.

 

Full story at http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050410/NEWS16/504100361/-1/NEWS

 

From the 11/2/05 Toledo Blade:

 

PHOTO: Crews work on the $200 million rebuilding project at the Toledo Hospital campus. Dubbed the ‘Renaissance Project,’ the work included a $30 million rebuilding of the emergency department completed in 2002. The entire project is to be completed by December, 2007.  ( THE BLADE/LUKE BLACK )

 

200M project is under way

Toledo Hospital rebuilding weeks ahead of schedule

 

Those driving near Toledo Hospital in the last several months have found it hard to miss: a 270-foot-tall construction crane, traffic diverted, and a great big hole in the ground.  All of them are signs that the hospital's $200 million rebuilding project - what hospital officials call their "Renaissance Project" - is well under way.

 

In fact, Gary Gordon, senior vice president of Toledo Hospital, said work is several weeks ahead of schedule.  Starting this winter, a steel shell will begin going up and if all goes according to plan, the entire project should be completed by December, 2007.  The work will include building an eight-story, 500,000-square-foot building planned for the southeast corner of the ProMedica-owned hospital campus.

 

Full story at http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051102/NEWS32/511020417/-1/NEWS

 

From the 1/26/07 Blade:

 

* PHOTO 1

* PHOTO 2

 

HOSPITAL EXPANSION PROJECT REACHES MILESTONE

 

Dwarfed by the work area around him, Gary Gordon, president of Toledo Hospital, speaks during a news conference as the hospital’s Renaissance Project reaches its enclosure milestone.  Yesterday marked the point in the process where the bed tower for the hospital expansion was enclosed.

 

In addition to the news conference, members of the news media were allowed to tour the $156 million construction project that began in the summer of 2005 and is scheduled for completion in January, 2008.  Toledo Hospital and Toledo Children’s Hospital are members of ProMedica Health System, a Toledo-based, not-for-profit health care organization that serves 23 counties in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan.

 

Full story at http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070126/NEWS32/70126006/-1/NEWS

TOLEDO HOSPITAL'S $156M 'RENAISSANCE' MOVES FORWARD

ProMedica to complete 2nd phase of rebuilding

Article published October 18, 2007

By JULIE M. McKINNON

BLADE STAFF WRITER

 

Toledo Hospital is finishing the second phase of its rebuilding process, getting ready to open in January a $156 million building with 289 private rooms, separate elevators for visitors, and other amenities.  Officials gave The Blade a tour yesterday of the first two floors of the new, eight-floor hospital building.

 

Also next year, demolition will begin on the top five floors of the existing hospital, the oldest part of which dates to 1932.  ProMedica Health System plans to rebuild the rest of the hospital, although a time line to finish the project first announced in 2001 has not been determined, Gary Gordon, Toledo Hospital’s president, said.

 

MORE: http://www.toledoblade.com/article/20071018/NEWS32/71018008

Tiny patients benefit most in Toledo Hospital's new $156M tower

Article published January 09, 2008

By JULIE M. McKINNON

BLADE STAFF WRITER

 

Hospital officials yesterday gave The Blade a tour of the 500,000-square-foot, 10-level tower that is the centerpiece of Toledo Hospital's multiyear "Renaissance" project.  A media unveiling is scheduled for the building today, and a community open house will be Sunday. 

 

Toledo Hospital's parent, ProMedica Health System, started the multiphase project with a $30 million emergency department that opened in 2002 and is adjacent to the new tower.  Construction on the tower started in 2005.  It is connected to the existing hospital.

 

Hospital staff will begin moving patients into the new building Jan. 28, a process expected to take about a week.  About 200,000 square feet of the new building is shelled for future expansion, he said.  Planning is under way for the next phase of the project to replace the existing hospital, although no timeline has been set, said Gary Gordon, president of Toledo Hospital.

 

MORE: http://www.toledoblade.com/article/20080109/NEWS32/801090405

Toledo Hospital to add $350M patient tower

ProMedica buys 77 homes to shift road

BY MARLENE HARRIS-TAYLOR, BLADE STAFF WRITER

Published: Wednesday, 5/6/2015

 

ProMedica Toledo Hospital is about to undergo a $350 million, three-year renovation that includes the construction of a new tower for patient rooms and converting the oldest building, which opened in 1930 on North Cove Boulevard, into office space.

 

Construction on the new 615,000-square-foot addition, which will create a new grand entrance for the hospital on ProMedica Parkway, is expected to begin next spring.

 

MORE: http://www.toledoblade.com/Medical/2015/05/06/Toledo-Hospital-to-add-350M-patient-tower-nbsp.html

 

ProMedica growth waits on parkway

Company declines to show exact path of new street

BY MARLENE HARRIS-TAYLOR, BLADE STAFF WRITER

Published: Thursday, 5/7/2015

 

The demolition and reconstruction of ProMedica Parkway from where it intersects with Central Avenue and leads to ProMedica Toledo Hospital will be the first phase of the hospital system’s major expansion project announced this week.

( . . . )

ProMedica officials declined to provide an aerial map to The Blade that would show the exact path of the new street, and they declined to identify which homes were purchased along the route.  Tedra White, a hospital spokesman, said ProMedica first wants to show the map to the hospital’s neighbors at a public meeting that will held May 19 or 20.

 

MORE: http://www.toledoblade.com/Medical/2015/05/07/ProMedica-growth-waits-on-parkway.html

^One of the things that always boggled my mind was how damn huge the hospitals were in Toledo. Out here in the Bay, there really isn't much comparable to the Toledo Hospital campus or St. Vincent Medical Center. And it's not just Toledo. Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati also have these medical megaplexes that are bigger than what you see in most major cities. Ohio's medical industry seems freakishly overbuilt. And I must say I'm a bit shocked to read about another expansion at Promedica Toledo Hospital considering the city's and region's continual population decline. The city of Toledo could be below 275,000 people by the 2020 census (I don't think Toledo will level off until 250,000 people, and Detroit maybe as low as 500,000). Toledo's market area is also shrinking. Granted, I know those hospitals pull from all over Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan up to Detroit, but there are a lot of declining areas with shrinking populations in that core Rust Belt region of Western Lake Erie.

 

I think Toledo is unique in having three Level-1 Trauma Centers. I can't think of any other city that size with that medical infrastructure. Back when I worked in news there, you could see 500 shootings in a year, but under 50 homicides. I always chalked it up to the excellent trauma facilities and good response times. Or maybe the gangs there are just bad shots? It seemed like the city did a good job with aggravated assault victims. A lot of lives were saved that quite frankly may have been lost in cities like Detroit or Oakland.

 

I'm just worried the city is relying too heavily on the medical industry for economic "growth," and the private sector numbers are dire in Toledo despite still having four surviving Fortune 500 companies within 15 miles of Downtown. Not many new businesses have been launched there lately and I've heard a good number of solar start-ups went bust (also happened in other cities). The city needs a lot more more than a new hospital wing to recover.

 

*Also should be noted that the historic Colony Park Building was recently demolished judging by Google Maps. Monroe Street is heartbreaking. There just isn't much left of what was once a dense urban streetcar spine. :cry: A lot of these hospital expansions have taken out historic buildings. I know that's an issue that goes far beyond the city limits of Toledo, but from an urban planning perspective, these giant hospitals tend to function as islands.

 

http://www.toledoblade.com/business/2013/05/30/Demolition-eliminating-old-Colony-shopping-area.html

ProMedica submits plan for new road

$350 million will be spent during 3-year renovation

BY MARLENE HARRIS-TAYLOR, BLADE STAFF WRITER

Published: Wednesday, 7/1/2015

 

ProMedica’s plans to construct a new road to replace the current ProMedica Parkway came into sharper focus this week with drawings the health-care company submitted to the city of Toledo Plan Commission.  The demolition and reconstruction of ProMedica Parkway from where it intersects with Central Avenue and leads to ProMedica Toledo Hospital will be the first phase of the hospital system’s major expansion project at the Toledo Hospital site.

 

Toledo Hospital is about to undergo a $350 million, three-year renovation that includes the construction of a new 615,000-square-foot tower for patient rooms.  The first phase of the project, if approved by the plan commission and Toledo City Council, would be to demolish the current ProMedica Parkway and several homes on Rathbun Drive, south of Monroe Street ending at North Cove Blvd. and one or two homes on a small section of Christie Street, west of Rathbun Drive.

( . . . )

The new plans also create several roundabouts on the campus to help with the flow of traffic.  There will one near the entry point to the campus just south of Monroe Street, another at the south entrance to the new ProMedica Parkway at North Cove Blvd. and a small one within the campus situated just east of the north parking garage.

 

MORE: http://www.toledoblade.com/Medical/2015/07/01/ProMedica-submits-plan-for-new-road.html

^Ugh, another big loss in that neighborhood. The housing around the hospital is pretty high quality, so it sucks to see 77 more homes getting torn down for asphalt. I wish they would build denser with a parking garage to minimize losses. Those homes also were good spots for employees to live. Toledo Hospital is becoming more and more like an island in West Toledo.

 

Look at this quote:

 

There also would be a deep buffer zone between the new road and the remaining neighbors. “Part of our intent is through a combination of mounding, fencing and landscaping to provide some screening to that neighborhood similar to what exists today,” Mr. Grohnke said.

 

Toledo needs to look at its historic West Coast sibling, Oakland, to see how to do an urban hospital right. Kaiser's campus at Oakland Piedmont Hospital is much more well-integrated into the surrounding neighborhood and rents around it are sky high since it's in the Bay and walking distance for hospital workers. The hospital is hideous, but it doesn't really create an island in the city. It's tiny compared to a gargantuan medical complex like Toledo Hospital, but it is an example of better urban planning.

 

Ohio doesn't seem intent on integrating hospitals into the surrounding neighborhoods, which I always found bizarre considering how many Gen Y workers would desire to live close to work. In San Francisco and Oakland, housing near the hospitals is some of the most expensive in the United States and world. Housing near hospitals should be preserved, not torn down. In terms of rental housing, it's excellent, especially since many hospital workers are transients, not to mention there is a large population of interns and students needing rental housing.

 

Toledo Hospital made big mistakes tearing down an excessive number of buildings on Monroe Street and in the path of its new Promedica Parkway. Now it's making a big mistake tearing down 77 high-quality homes with great proximity for hospital workers. It sounds like it doesn't want to be neighbors with anyone around it...