Two of Cleveland Clinic’s major building projects made a brief appearance in a recent, online presentation by the leader of the health system. At left is a conceptual rendering of the massive, new Neurological Institute with the proposed expansion of the Cole Eye Institute at right. Conspicuous by its absence was the third major project proposed by the Clinic — its new Global Center for Pathogen & Human Health Research (CCF). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM
New Neurological building to be Clinic’s largest
ARTICLE UPDATED FEB. 14, 2022
In a recent presentation by the chief of the Cleveland Clinic, the public got a sneak peak of two of its major-new facilities in the background. The conceptual renderings offered the first-ever public glimpse of what the new Neurological Institute could look like and gave a revised design of the proposed expansion of the Cole Eye Institute.
In late-breaking news, revised plans for the new Neurological Institute show that it will now be the largest building the Clinic has ever built. If current plans hold, it would be bigger than the current square-footage king — the 10-story, 2008-built Sydell & Arnold Miller Family Pavilion, 9500 Euclid Ave., at just under 1 million square feet. According to two sources who spoke off the record, the Neurological Building will now be 1.1 million square feet — making it larger than the new 1-million-square-foot Sherwin-Williams headquarters under construction downtown.
The presentation was the State Of The Clinic given by Tomislav Mihaljevic, president and CEO of the global health system and Cleveland’s largest employer. He said 2021 was the Cleveland Clinic’s busiest year ever, with operating revenue of $12.4 billion and 10.4 million outpatient visits — a 17 percent increase from 2020. There were also more than 22,800 COVID-19 admissions.
“The most common question I am asked is, ‘Where will Cleveland Clinic go next?’ To me, it is not about where, but how we will grow. We build, partner and innovate with technology,” Mihaljevic said. “This year, we are funding $1.3 billion in projects. Nearly half of that will be used to renew our current facilities.”
Multiple Cleveland Clinic facilities and properties at its main campus have been in the news and will continue to be the in news in the coming year. Foremost among them are the new Neurological Center and the Cole Eye Institute expansion which are due to get underway in 2022 — as might renovations of the DD Building with non-Clinic tenants and possibly a new owner (Google/KJP).
In 2022, Cleveland Clinic major building projects include:
- the opening of Cleveland Clinic London hospital
- on main campus, construction of the first integrated neurological hospital
- the opening of Mentor Hospital
- expansion of Cole Eye Institute on the main campus
- renovation of Fairview Hospital
- expansion of Cleveland Clinic’s bed tower in Weston, Fla.
- the opening of a new oncology center in Abu Dhabi
The list includes two building projects shown in the background in Mihaljevic’s presentation to the Clinic’s 70,000-plus employees worldwide. NEOtrans broke the news last October that the Clinic’s new Neurological Institute would exceed 900,000 square feet — more than twice as large as the originally planned 400,000 square feet. The latest news is that this building will be 200,000 square feet larger.
The larger Neuro building is needed because of the Cleveland Clinic’s desire to add more inpatient rooms, hire more staff and to consolidate neurological staff that are scattered at multiple locations in Greater Cleveland. Plans for the prior, smaller building involved offering treatments on a strictly outpatient basis.
Sources who revealed this news last fall also said the structure would occupy a large footprint, thus limiting its height to 15 floors or less. The conceptual rendering shown in the State Of The Clinic presentation revealed what appears to be a 14-story building. The structure would also be at a different location than what was previously proposed. The new site will be the current location of the Surgery Center, also called the P Building, on Carnegie Avenue at East 89th Street.
Cleveland Clinic President & CEO Tomislav Mihaljevic spoke in December at the groundbreaking for the Fairfax Market, a mixed-use development featuring 196 apartments over a new Meijer grocery store. Fairmount Properties is building the project on Cleveland Clinic-owned land on the southwest corner of East 105th Street and Cedar Avenue (CCF).
The old proposed site for the Neurological Institute is a surface parking lot in the 9700 block of Euclid Avenue. Conceptual renderings for that facility showed a seven-story structure occupying a large footprint spreading next to and behind the East Mount Zion Baptist Church. While the church was never threatened, another structure is. Three sources said the old, mostly unused Cleveland Playhouse and former Sears store reportedly will be demolished for construction staging for the new neurological hospital.
Designing the new Neurological Institute will be two internationally renowned firms — London-based Hopkins Architects and Edmonton-based Stantec Inc., the source said. Unfortunately, original source renderings of this new building, or even of the Cole Eye Institute expansion, could not be shared publicly and no other graphics were available, said Angela Smith. senior director of corporate communications at the Cleveland Clinic.
“Planning is still underway so we do not have formal renderings or images to share just yet,” Smith said.
The Cole Eye Institute expansion is proposed to measure about 100,000 square feet and be located on the west side of East 105th Street, just south of Euclid. Whiting-Turner Contracting will provide construction management services on the Cole Eye Institute building while Turner Construction will provide construction management services for the Neurological Institute, Smith said.
Cleveland Clinic’s 54-year-old Surgery Center, aka the P Building, 2083 E. 89th St., will reportedly be demolished in the coming months to make way for the massive new Neurological Building. Its employees are being relocated to other facilities (Google).
Absent from the Clinic’s 2022 new-start list for new construction projects is the Global Center for Pathogen & Human Health Research. There was also no mention or rendering of it in Mihaljevic’s State Of The Clinic presentation. Last year, the Clinic said it had hoped to start construction on the $500 million pathogens center this spring, somewhere near the intersection of East 105th and Cedar Avenue. However, Smith had no update on the project to share.
There are significant public funds involved in the new pathogens center, as part of the State of Ohio’s awarding one year ago of the Cleveland Innovation District designation. There are also many jobs involved — at least 1,000 permanent jobs in the pathogens center. The size of the building is unknown, but its potential construction cost and proposed number of jobs are in the same territory as Sherwin-Williams’ new, 600,000-square-foot research center in suburban Brecksville.
In other Cleveland Clinic facility news, Biochip Labs Inc. is moving from the Baker Electric Building, 7100 Euclid Ave., owned by an affiliate of developer Dick Pace, to the Clinic’s six-story DD Building, 10900 Carnegie Ave. Pace, through another affiliate of his called Cumberland Cedar LLC, has a purchase agreement to acquire the 49,205-square-foot building. He is seeking to buy and renovate the building to accommodate tech start-ups and growing firms, sources said.
Biochip Labs outgrew space at Baker Electric and will renovate 2,000 square feet in Cleveland Clinic’s 66-year-old office building for $75,000, according to a permit application submitted by Dimit Architects of Lakewood to the city of Cleveland’s Building & Housing Department. The work was described in the application as “A minimal interior tenant build out of existing space into a re-purposed office/work area (with) existing walls to remain (and) new ceiling, wall, and floor finishes (plus) electrical and HVAC work.”
Pace, CEO of Cumberland Development LLC, declined to discuss the potential purchase of the property or the relocation of tenants at this time, as did Smith.
END
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