After more than five years of cranes, concrete and construction dust, Ohio State's new 26-story University Hospital tower will start caring for patients on Sunday, Feb. 22. The 1.9-million-square-foot building replaces aging midcentury facilities on the medical campus and plugs directly into The James Cancer Hospital, adding badly needed private rooms, intensive care capacity and surgical suites for central Ohio. Staff and early patients will begin moving in this weekend as the medical center brings the new tower online.
Inside the New Tower
The new University Hospital climbs 26 stories and packs in 820 private patient rooms, roughly 234 intensive-care beds and 24 operating rooms, including two hybrid neurovascular suites. It also features 51 neonatal ICU bassinets, a two-story Terrace Café with about 400 seats that opens onto a 20,000-square-foot outdoor terrace, and 50 elevators to keep patients, staff and visitors moving. Those features and more are detailed by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
New Names, New Signs, New Traffic Patterns
To cut down on confusion, the health system is simplifying what it calls its buildings. The new tower will go by “University Hospital,” and several neighbors are getting updated labels: Rhodes Hall will become University Hospital – Rhodes, Doan Hall will be University Hospital – Doan, and the Brain and Spine Hospital will be University Hospital – Pavilion starting Feb. 22. Campus roadways are shifting too, with the service road to the medical garage now called Medical Center Drive West and Dodd Drive East retitled Medical Center Drive East, details mapped out by Columbus Underground.
Protests Over the Wexner Name
The celebration is colliding with controversy. The Ohio Nurses Association sent a formal letter this week urging university leaders to remove Les Wexner’s name from medical campus buildings and announced an informational picket for Feb. 22 at Phyllis A. Jones Legacy Park. The union tied its request to recently unredacted documents and called on the university to “stand with survivors,” as reported by HealthLeaders.
Deposition Turns Up the Heat
Tensions over the naming question escalated after members of the U.S. House Oversight Committee deposed Les Wexner on Feb. 18 at his New Albany home. Some Democrats who spoke afterward said they were not persuaded by parts of his testimony. Coverage of the deposition and lawmakers’ reactions was reported by WOSU.
What Patients and Visitors Need to Know
OSU is warning patients to read their appointment reminders closely. Through Feb. 21, any visit listed as “University Hospital” should still use the University Hospital – Rhodes entrance. Appointments scheduled for Feb. 22 and later should head to the new tower at 520 W. 10th Ave. The medical center has published maps and a timeline of building name and signage changes to help people navigate the shifting campus. Full details are in the patient-and-visitor guide from Ohio State Wexner Medical Center.
For Columbus, the tower marks one of the largest health-care investments in recent memory and is intended to expand access to high-level specialties across the state. Expect fresh signage, rerouted traffic and visible community demonstrations tied to the naming dispute as patients begin settling into the new building this weekend.
