COLUMBUS, Ohio — Central Ohio’s diagnosis is that the region is experiencing a growth spurt.
The Ohio Hospital Association reports that the treatment for this is happening in the form of investment in new facilities across central Ohio. There is a bit of competition but also collaboration for the greater good of those who live here now and those who will arrive in the next decade.
This story is part of 10TV's "Boomtown" initiative — our commitment to covering every angle of central Ohio's rapid growth. This includes highlighting success stories, shining a light on growing pains and seeking solutions to issues in your everyday life.
A $400 million construction project underway at OhioHealth Grant Medical Center is not just a heavy lift.
“It’s always challenging when you plan to expand a hospital in an area where you’re landlocked like the downtown area,” said Brian Jepson, president of OhioHealth Central Market.
It is also an investment in the booming downtown Columbus.
“It’s really the front door and the community hospital for the people who live downtown. It’s also a major referral center for the region,” Jepson said.
Jepson guides the operations and strategic development at OhioHealth. He said that the project’s focus on infrastructure is a foundation for the future. Parts of Grant Medial Center are older. The main tower was built in 1958.
Jepson said the project will replace a lot of the beds with private ones, which is what some patients are looking for.
The community pillar has served the city since 1900. It is landlocked, but the project is comprised of plans that leverage what’s here to transform spaces like moving primary care into this new medical office space.
“We’ve had to work very closely with the city to vacate 6th Street. They’ve been great partners to us so that we could knock down the blue garage, then build a new building and connect it to the hospital. We want to make sure patients can transition to the new tower and existing facilities,” Jepson said.
About 1 million new people are expected to move to central Ohio in the next 20 years. The pending population boom is creating a new view of Columbus as not just one market but several “submarkets.” Those “submarkets” reflect specialization, like the eight-story Comprehensive Women’s Health Center under construction in front of Riverside Methodist Hospital and slated to open in 2027.
“It’s huge because women are the ones who primarily make health care decisions in the family. So, we want to create a one-of-a-kind experience for women and make sure to take care of all of their needs,” Jepson said.
Need is the other focus of the “submarket” concept.
The OhioHealth footprint in central Ohio will now include a medical campus in Canal Winchester, a medical office in Jerome Township, an urgent care in Franklinton and the transformation of Pickerington’s medical campus into Pickerington Methodist where they built in shell space to meet the pace of growth.
“We’re fortunate to live in a growing vibrant area that fuels us. We want to not just keep up, we want be ahead of the curve,” Jepson said.