The Ohio State Board of Trustees announced the opening date of a new Ohio State University Medical Center outpatient clinic and surgery center Friday.
Last month, the Board of Trustees approved a 20-year lease for the property located on the former Gowdy landfill and baseball field located a mile south of campus on Olentangy River Road.
Academic offices and clinics will open at the new facility as early as April 2009, before the rest of the building opens in July.
The location was in response to a need to “diversify” locations of OSU Medical Center ambulatory care sites, said Alan W. Brass, member of the Board of Trustees.
“It basically will free up space on the main campus,” Brass said.
On Friday, the board expressed concern about the flow of traffic on campus near the main hospital location. They proposed tentative plans to open roads near the hospital to alleviate heavy traffic near inpatient care centers on Cannon Drive by 2014. Academic offices will be moved into the new building to alleviate crowding in Cramblett Hall.
The base rent will be $2.6 million a year; however, the lease/purchase review is ongoing.
The location features 137,000 square feet and six operating rooms. There is also space for a potential lab, pharmacy, food services and 3,000 to 5,000 square feet of research space.
“[The] Gowdy Fields site will basically relocate [ear, nose and throat], plastic surgery, ophthalmology and the center for women’s care,” Bass said. “It will move us in a very close location.”
Amber Phelps can be reached at [email protected].
