CLEVELAND, Ohio - The MetroHealth System is committed to revitalizing its West Side neighborhood while also replacing buildings and adding green space at its main campus, officials told Cuyahoga County Council members Monday.
Walter Jones, senior vice president of campus transformation, outlined the status of the MetroHealth Transformation plan, funded by $945.7 million in hospital revenue bonds the health system issued in 2017.
Council members at the committee meeting praised the county hospital system's plans to build a desperately needed new hospital as well as improve housing, add retail and oversee redevelopment of the Clark-Fulton neighborhood.
"This is really amazing," Council President Dan Brady said. "This is so ambitious, but it is real. It has to to be the biggest thing to happen in this part of the city for several generations."
Brady gave kudos to the hospital's administrators for working with a complex number of local, state and federal groups and financing nearly the entire transformation on its own.
"It seemed like pie in the sky when it was envisioned four years ago and seemed too far fetched to be true," he said. "But it is great."
The design of the new hospital, which is scheduled to open in 2022, will be unveiled in June, Jones said.
MetroHealth unveils plan to turn main campus into 'hospital in a park'
Jones showed schematic designs and described how the Ohio Department of Transportation is working with the hospital on access.
A campus gateway will be created at Valentine Avenue and a four-way intersection will be created at the Interstate 71 south exit at West 25th Street.
"The hardest thing for people to do is to find the front door of the hospital," Jones said. "We will have a dedicated drive to the front door."
The 1,500-space staff parking garage will be completed in September. Once that opens, the current 900-space garage will be demolished to create a site for the new hospital.
See his presentation to council below or click here if on a mobile device.
Plans for the West 25th Street neighborhood are extensive.
"We elected to become an EcoDistrict - the only health-care-supported district in the country," Jones said.
EcoDistricts promote a new model of urban regeneration and community development, according to the organization.
While the process of forming the district is ongoing, it is listed on the EcoDistrict's website as the 585-acre MetroHealth Community District.
"The system sees itself first and foremost as a member of a community and believes that it can, will, and must improve the vibrancy and wellness of its neighborhood," says the EcoDistrict statement.
"MetroHealth knows that good health is not just good health care. Good health is determined to a large degree by a healthy neighborhood. MetroHealth is committed to improving health equity and playing an important part of the national movement toward partnerships between community development and health organizations to holistically revitalize communities in need."
Last July, MetroHealth formed a non-profit corporation to revitalize the Clark-Fulton neighborhood.
MetroHealth plans to move its police station from the patient towers into a redeveloped complex of three buildings it owns across from the hospital on West 25th Street, officials told council. It is also considering moving the ground operations for the LifeFlight helicopter to that location.
The community also is working to develop La Villa Hispana, an area just north of MetroHealth, into an innovation center for nonprofits, classes and programs.
MetroHealth also is working on an employee-housing program that officials hope will result in 500 people living near the campus.