Grant Medical Center looks to second phase of Downtown expansion

Grant Medical Center is moving forward on a new Trauma and Critical Care Center, the second phase of the $400 million renovation and expansion of its Downtown campus.

The hospital presented plans to the city's Downtown Commission on Tuesday for the seven-story trauma center, on East Town Street, on a site that now includes a parking garage. The center will house a new emergency department, trauma bays, 160 patient rooms, and two levels of underground parking.

More:Columbus State, OhioHealth announce plan to train health-care professionals

The center is the second of a multi-phase renovation of Grant's campus. Work began in the fall on the first phase, a medical office building and parking garage building at Grant and State streets. That phase, which must be completed before work on the trauma center can begin, is expected to wrap up next March.

"We're on time and on budget," said Jean Halpin, chief operations officer for OhioHealth Grant Medical Center.

"This is a multiyear project. We’ve got the medical office building and parking garage well underway. They will be wrapped up a year from now, which will allow us to tear down the parking garage where the trauma center will go."

Halpin said the new trauma center will allow it to expand its role as a trauma center for central Ohio and beyond.

"The role of Grant Medical is not only to serve Columbus but also Ohio," she said. "What we are really expanding is critical care to support all of Ohio, even into Kentucky and West Virginia. It's an expansion and complement to what we do now."

Members of the Downtown Commission Tuesday praised the building's design, which was presented by representatives of OhioHealth and its architect, CannonDesign.

"It's nicely designed, very classy looking," said Commission Chairman Steve Wittmann.

"This is a handsome building," added commission member Robert Loversidge. "This is a great investment for our Downtown."

Work is expected to start next spring with the demolition of the parking garage on the corner of South 6th Street and East Town Street. The new, 270,00-square-foot trauma center building will rise on that site as well on what is now 6th Street itself, which will be vacated.

The trauma center is expected to be complete in 2028. "Then, we'll go into current tower and remodel all those floors," Halpin said.

Grant's expansion and renovations are among several expansions of health centers in central Ohio, including at Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center, OhioHealth's Riverside Methodist Hospital and Mount Carmel Health System.

jweiker@dispatch.com

@JimWeiker