UH Ahuja 2, MetroHealth’s Apex lead a near-$1 billion hospital construction boom in Northeast Ohio

In May, Akron Children’s Hospital opened a new $3.5 million Operating room dedicated to pediatric spine surgeries featuring a high-tech imaging system that renders 3-D images of the spine. Local hospital systems collectively are spending an estimated $856.2 million on new buildings, expansions and renovations.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A new four-story medical center in Ashtabula County, the Cleveland Clinic’s first full-service hospital in Lake County and University Hospitals’ new breast health center in Portage County join the expansion of UH’s Ahuja Medical Center in Beachwood among recent construction projects driven by Northeast Ohio hospital systems.

Local hospital systems collectively are spending an estimated $856 million on new buildings, expansions and renovations, before adding in some projects for which the cost has not yet been released.

Officials say the projects — either recently completed or slated to be finished by 2025 — are aimed at improving patient care and making hospital stays more comfortable by providing up-to-date equipment, larger patients rooms and better surgical facilities.

Hospital spending on new construction and renovations creates jobs and adds an economic boost to the region’s economy, say the hospital systems.

In 2021, the Clinic reported that it contributed $21.6 billion to Ohio’s economy in 2019. Also in 2021, UH said it contributed $10.3 billion to the economy regionally. Health care and banks have been a major driver of Cleveland’s shift from an industrial economy to a knowledge-based service economy, according to a Cleveland State University analyst.

These projects emphasize outpatient and specialty care, which demands shorter stays in hospitals. Examples of new specialty care facilities include Akron Children’s Hospital’s new $3.5 million operating room dedicated to pediatric spine surgeries. Summa Health is spending $7.1 million on its wound care center and $2.2 million to renovate its Center for Bariatric Surgery.

Expanding outpatient, or ambulatory care, is part of a nationwide trend among hospitals systems, said Mark Pauly, a health economist at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

“Patients are in and out so you don’t have to fuss with them very long,” Pauly said. “Mostly it’s patient driven. Patients would rather recover in the privacy of their own home, rather than in the hospital setting.”

Here is a summary of some construction and renovation projects happening at Northern Ohio hospitals:

Akron Children’s Hospital

  • Type of project: Operating room dedicated to pediatric spine surgeries.
  • Estimated cost: $3.5 million.
  • Size: 3,500 square feet.
  • How patients benefit: A high-tech imaging system gives orthopedic surgeons 3-D images of the spine in real time while reducing radiation exposure by 80%.
  • Completion: May 2023.

Ashtabula County Medical Center

  • Type of project: New construction.
  • Size: Four-story, 115,000 square feet.
  • How patients benefit: 24 emergency rooms, five surgical suites, and 55 in-patient rooms, including 10 in the intensive care unit. Private patient rooms will have space for visitors and in-room physical therapy. The larger Emergency Department will have enhanced safety measures for patients with behavioral health issues.
  • Estimated cost: $115 million.
  • Completion: 2024.

Cleveland Clinic Middleburg Heights Family Health Center

  • Type of project: A former Kmart store is undergoing a full renovation into a family health center.
  • Size: 93,000 square feet.
  • How patients benefit: Medical services include specialty and primary care, imaging services, a lab and drive-thru pharmacy.
  • Estimated cost: Undisclosed.
  • Timetable: Opens summer 2023.
The Cleveland Clinic is building its first hospital in Lake County. Cleveland Clinic Mentor Hospital will include 34 inpatient/observation rooms, 19 emergency department beds and four operating rooms when it opens in July.

Cleveland Clinic Mentor Hospital

  • Type of project: New construction of the Cleveland Clinic’s first hospital in Lake County.
  • Size: 96,000 square feet.
  • How patients benefit: 34 inpatient/observation rooms, 19 emergency department beds, four operating rooms and 12 pre- and post-anesthesia care beds.
  • Focus will be placed on outpatient services, including cardiology, digestive disease, orthopedics and sports medicine and pulmonary medicine.
  • Estimated cost: Not disclosed.
  • Completion: Opens July 11.

Other upcoming Clinic projects: Expansion of the Cole Eye Institute ($170 million to be completed in fall 2025); and construction of Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institute Building (cost not disclosed, opening in 2026).

Mercy Health Sheffield Medical Center has 24 exam rooms, X-ray and lab services. The newly constructed center opened in June 2022 in Lorain County.

Mercy Health Sheffield Medical Center

  • Type of project: New construction in Lorain County.
  • Size: 16,000 square feet.
  • How patients benefit: 24 exam rooms, along with X-ray and lab services. Mercy Health – Sheffield Walk-in Care lets patients see a physician with no appointment.
  • Estimated cost: Not available.
  • Completion: Opened June 2022.

MetroHealth APEX Outpatient Health Center

  • Type of project: New construction that is part of MetroHealth’s Campus Transformation Project.
  • Size: Five floors, 304,662 square feet.
  • How patients benefit: The outpatient health center will house services including oncology, behavioral health, plastic surgery, podiatry, urology, pediatrics and heart, vascular and pulmonary.
  • Estimated cost: $168 million.
  • Completion: Originally slated for completion in December. An assessment is being conducted by new CEO Airica Steed, and recommendations are expected to push completion back to 2024.
This image shows a post-partum room at the new Cosgrove Maternity Center at Southwest General Health Center in Middleburg Heights. A $17.6 million expansion of the former maternity unit added a higher level of care for moms and babies.

Southwest General Health Center Cosgrove Maternity Center and Level II Neonatal and Maternity Care Center

  • Type of Project: Expansion.
  • Size: An additional new 18,841 square feet, for a new space of 40,658 square feet.
  • How patients benefit: The project doubled the size of the former maternity unit while adding a higher level of care for moms and babies. Includes 10 labor and delivery suites; 19 postpartum suites and state-of-the-art operating rooms for Cesarean section.
  • Estimated cost: $17.6 million.
  • Completed: July 2022.

Other Southwest General projects: Renovation and expansion of Pain Management Center ($1.57 million) and renovation of Center for Bariatric Surgery ($2.2 million), both slated to be completed July 2023.

Summa Health’s new $84 million Juve Family Behavioral Health Pavilion opened in January. The name honors Northeast Ohio philanthropists Sharon and Richard Juve and their $10 million gift to Summa.

Summa Health Juve Family Behavioral Health Pavilion

  • Type of project: New construction.
  • Size: 159,000 square feet over seven floors.
  • How patients benefit: 64 beds inpatient behavioral health beds for addiction treatment, geriatric behavioral health, outpatient care and other services.
  • Estimated cost: $84 million.
  • Timetable: Opened January 2023.

Summa Health Akron Campus Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine Center

  • Type of project: New construction.
  • Size: 9,277 square feet.
  • How patients benefit: Expert care for diabetic ulcers, neuropathic ulcers, pressure ulcers, traumatic wounds and surgical wounds.
  • Estimated cost: $7.1 million.
  • Completion: Opened March 2023.
A 45-yard football training field is part of the new Drusinsky Sports Medicine Institute at UH Ahuja's new pavilion in Beachwood.

University Hospitals Ahuja Phase 2

  • Type of project: New construction that expands UH Ahuja campus in Beachwood.
  • Size: 222,000 square-foot three-story pavilion.
  • How patients benefit: Sports medicine institute with 45-yard football training field; eight new operating rooms, 23-bed short stay unit, nine labor and delivery rooms, 12 special care neonatal rooms.
  • Estimated cost: $236 million.
  • Completion: June 2023.

UH Community Wellness Center at Bedford Health Center

  • Type of project: Health programs at the former UH Bedford Hospital, which closed in 2022.
  • Size: 1,775 square feet.
  • How patients benefit: Classes for pregnant women and infants, health screenings, behavioral health programs, nutrition classes, apprenticeship programs for healthcare careers.
  • Estimated cost: Not disclosed.
  • Completion: Opens September 2023.

UH Community Wellness Center at Richmond Health Center

  • Type of project: Health programs at the former UH Richmond Hospital, which closed in 2022.
  • Size: 3,200 square feet.
  • How patients benefit: Classes for pregnant women and infants, health screenings, behavioral health programs, nutrition classes, apprenticeship programs for healthcare careers.
  • Estimated cost: Not disclosed.
  • Completion: Opens September 2023.

UH Portage Breast Health Center

  • Type of project: New construction
  • Estimated cost: $2.1 million
  • Size: Not available.
  • How patients benefit: Includes an additional 3-D mammography unit, two ultrasound units for breast cancer diagnosis and treatment and Surgical equipment for breast procedures.
  • Completion: August 2023.

Other UH projects: Modernization at UH Lake West Medical Center modernization project ($23.7 million, completion in 2025). Renovation of birthing center at UH TriPoint Medical Center and addition of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (completed 2023, $25.5 million).

Julie Washington covers health care for cleveland.com. Read previous stories at this link.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

X

Opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information

If you opt out, we won’t sell or share your personal information to inform the ads you see. You may still see interest-based ads if your information is sold or shared by other companies or was sold or shared previously.