ProMedica to complete 2nd phase of rebuilding

Craig Meeker of Laibe Electric Co. in Toledo, walks through the building, which is scheduled to open in January.

Gary Gordon, president of Toledo Hospital, stands in the lobby of the new building, construction of which began in 2005.

Toledo Hospital is finishing the second phase of its rebuilding process, getting ready to open in January a $156 million building with 289 private rooms, separate elevators for visitors, and other amenities.

Also next year, demolition will begin on the top five floors of the existing hospital, the oldest part of which dates to 1932.

ProMedica Health System plans to rebuild the rest of the hospital, although a time line to finish the project first announced in 2001 has not been determined, Gary Gordon, Toledo Hospital s president, said.

It has outlived its useful life, he said. It s time for [the hospital] to be replaced.

Officials gave The Blade a tour yesterday of the first two floors of the new, eight-floor hospital building.

The building will have separate entrances for Toledo Hospital and Toledo Children s Hospital off ProMedica Parkway, formerly called Oatis Avenue and widened to four lanes to improve access. The first two floors will have lobby, registration, waiting, dining, and other public areas as well as an intensive care unit and extra space for surgical rooms.

Craig Meeker of Laibe Electric Co. in Toledo, walks through the building, which is scheduled to open in January.

The building s construction started in 2005, and it is adjacent to the $30 million emergency department that was the multiyear Renaissance project s first phase.

Covered parking will be available in the garage off Monroe Street by the hospital s two office towers, which will remain.

Higher floors in the 500,000-square-foot building will have patient rooms, and the eighth floor will be for mechanical equipment.

The building is connected to the existing hospital, where some patient rooms, labor and delivery, surgery, and diagnostic services will remain until future project phases are completed, Matt Nagel, project engineer for ProMedica, said.

Two floors of the new building will be dedicated to Toledo Children s Hospital, which will have separate elevators.

The eight-story building will have 289 private rooms, separate elevators for visitors, and other amenities.

All 60 beds in the new hospital s neonatal intensive care unit will be in private rooms, where families can stay overnight with newborns, Mr. Gordon said.

The room is by far as much for the parents as the little one, he said.

Other improvements include private patients rooms that are 2 times larger than existing ones, calming colors and light, wide hallways and other spaces, and separate elevators for visitors from those used by staff and patients, Mr. Gordon said.

People won t be going to the same elevators, and that is really nice for patients not to be exposed to the public, he said.

In addition to ProMedica, Toledo s two other large hospital providers Mercy Health System and the University of Toledo are in the midst of various building projects.

St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, for example, this year opened its Regional Heart and Vascular Center across Cherry Street from the main hospital, which is being renovated and mostly will have private rooms.

UT s medical center, formerly the Medical College of Ohio, is opening an orthopedic center this month.

Contact Julie M. McKinnon at:jmckinnon@theblade.comor 419-724-6087.