Ohio medical center kicks off $1B construction project

Ah, it does the heart good to see hospitals with the cash to start building again. The facility in this case is the Ohio State University Medical Center, which has set plans to spend $1 billion on a variety of buildings that should reshape its main campus completely.

OSU plans to spend the money to build a 276-bed cancer hospital, a research institute, a 144-bed critical-care building and new spaces for education and patient care. The plan, known as ProjectONE, will create as many as 10,000 new full-time jobs, and keep more than 5,000 construction workers employed throughout the duration of the project, the school estimates.

The project is intended to help meet demands at the Medical Center, where patient volume for cancer treatment alone is expected to grow 21 percent during the next 10 years.

To generate the funds for the construction work, Ohio State will issue $925 million in bonds, then close the gap to $1 billion in public support and private donations, officials said.

To learn more about the project:
- read this OSU press release