University Hospitals is turning a one-time corporate base into its latest foothold on the East Side, paying $9.1 million for the former U.S. headquarters of specialty-chemicals firm Synthomer in Beachwood.
The health system bought the office campus at 25435 Harvard Road and plans to open a University Hospitals location there as it expands its presence in the eastern suburbs, according to Crain's Cleveland Business. Crain's reported the address and purchase price and noted that UH intends to repurpose the campus for clinical or administrative uses.
OMNOVA Solutions' SEC filings identify 25435 Harvard Road in Beachwood as the company's U.S. office, according to OMNOVA's SEC filings. PR Newswire shows that Synthomer later acquired OMNOVA, which is why the Beachwood site has been described as Synthomer's U.S. headquarters.
Commercial real estate listings peg the building at about 59,000 square feet and show that it had been offered for lease or sale, according to CommercialCafe. Brokers involved in marketing included Cushman & Wakefield and local partners, a lineup that points to an institutional sales process rather than a quiet single-tenant deal.
Why hospitals are buying offices
Health systems across the country have been scooping up suburban office buildings as they hunt for more outpatient and back-office space while traditional office demand cools. One recent example is a VCU Health purchase covered by Becker's ASC. Industry observers have flagged medical office space as a comparatively defensive corner of the real estate market amid wider office weakness, according to Precedent Developments.
University Hospitals has already been putting money into the neighborhood. It's UH Ahuja Medical Center underwent a major expansion that increased emergency capacity and broadened services, Ideastream Public Media reported. The newly purchased Harvard Road campus is a short drive from Ahuja, positioning UH to capture more outpatient demand in the eastern suburbs.
Crain's Cleveland Business did not report a timeline for converting the Beachwood site to clinical space, and UH has not yet released specific plans for services or a target opening date. For now, the $9.1 million purchase stands as another example of a Northeast Ohio health system turning suburban office inventory into part of its care network.
