Nationwide Children's Hospital is planning a 215,000-square-foot outpatient facility in New Albany, Ohio, a three-story pediatric campus that will bring urgent care and specialty services to a 25-acre site at the State Route 161 and Johnstown Road interchange. The project adds an outpatient campus in the northeastern Franklin County suburb.
According to DOTmed, the design is led by architecture and engineering firm DLR Group, with Robert A.M. Stern Architects handling the exterior envelope and REALM Collaborative managing the landscape plan. The outpatient building is designed with shell space intended for future expansion, according to the same report.
The 25 acres beneath the new campus were donated in August 2024 by the Wexner family and real estate firm The New Albany Company, according to Nationwide Children's Hospital. That gift gave the health system a site in the northern section of New Albany's Village Center.
From a Leased Clinic to a Standalone Campus
Nationwide Children's offers services at the Philip Heit Center for Healthy New Albany, per The New Albany Company. Its new outpatient center will add another location in New Albany.
Municipal planning submissions filed in August 2025 estimated the project's cost at $170 million, and the site plan included a multi-story outpatient building, a 16,000-square-foot central utility plant, 496 parking spaces, and nearly 9 acres of open parkland and green space, according to Becker's ASC's report on the filings. Those figures came before later plans for a 215,000-square-foot outpatient center.
A Corporate Gift Behind the Building's Name
Columbus-based retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co. pledged $15 million in August 2025 to support pediatric mental health programs at Nationwide Children's, and the health system named the new New Albany facility in recognition of that gift, according to Abercrombie & Fitch Co. The corporate backing adds another layer of local philanthropy to a project already built on donated land.
The New Albany City Council approved rezoning for the surrounding development tract in August 2024, and the following month The New Albany Company donated an additional 15 acres of adjacent civic land next to the hospital campus. Both actions involved land near the hospital campus.
Part of a Wider Network of Suburban Care
The New Albany campus joins Nationwide Children's expanding “Close To Home” network, which operated 24 regional outpatient centers across Central Ohio as of late 2024. A Zanesville location had opened, an Athens location was planned for fall 2024, and Grove City plans were in development with a May 2026 opening target, per Nationwide Children's Hospital. The strategy is aimed at bringing urgent and specialty pediatric care closer to families who would otherwise have to travel into downtown Columbus.
Nationwide Children's has been active on multiple real estate fronts recently, including a $7.6M East Main Street purchase with no announced plan yet, underscoring how the New Albany outpatient center fits into a broader pattern of capital expansion across the health system.
