Iris S. and the late Bert L. Wolstein provided half of the funding for proposed University Hospital Health System education and conference center on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland’s University Circle (levelHEADS). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
New facility to result from philanthropic gifts
In an e-mail sent to all employees today, University Hospital Health System CEO Cliff Megerian announced that the health care provider will seek to build a new 30,000-square-foot conference and education center in Cleveland’s University Circle. The facility will be built on an underutilized green space at 11100 Euclid Ave. in front of an existing parking garage.
He noted that the new facility will be “a beacon of healing, learning and exploration” and be the result of philanthropic gifts only. Initiating the philanthropy was a $15 million lead gift from Iris S. and the late Bert L. Wolstein, a family who has led real estate development in Northeast Ohio for generations.
“This visionary gift will give rise to the Iris S. and Bert L. Wolstein Center, a state-of-the-art education and conference center on the campus of UH Cleveland Medical Center,” Megerian wrote in the e-mail that was forwarded to NEOtrans.
However, the fundraising is only halfway to its goal of $30 million, which is the projected cost of the new center. Dates for a groundbreaking and anticipated opening will be determined in coordination with the progress of fundraising activity.
Site for the new Iris S. and Bert L. Wolstein Center is on the greenspace to the right of the driveways in and out of the UH Cleveland Medical Center. This view is from Euclid Avenue in September 2022 (Google).
“UH Cleveland Medical Center is one of the only major academic medical centers in the country without an education and conference center, but boasts one of the nation’s largest residency programs with nearly 1,200 residents and fellows,” Megerian added. UH is located next to the fast-growing Case Western Reserve University.
The facility will be equipped with audiovisual and remote learning technology and provide ample and flexible space to host national and international conferences, visiting lecturers, professors and speakers, Continuing Medical Education conferences and more. Dedicated simulation and training labs, breakout space, a café and a publicly accessible art gallery will round out the building’s programming.
“The new Iris S. and Bert L. Wolstein Center will transform UH’s capacity to convene and train healthcare professionals, an increasingly important priority as the country navigates a critical shortage in medical staff,” Megerian said.
UH has hired architecture firm levelHEADS, Inc., which has its corporate address in suburban Valley View. It also has a design studio in Brecksville and satellite locations in Medina and Port Clinton. All of them are residences, according to the levelHEADS Web site.
The development site for the Iris S. and Bert L. Wolstein Center is at left in this view looking eastward toward the UH Seidman Canter Center in the background (Google).
“Over decades of giving, the Wolsteins have made an indelible mark at UH and positively impacted countless lives, bringing hope to children facing cancer diagnoses, fueling ground-breaking medical research, and so much more,” Megerian wrote. “With their new gift, they are among the most significant donors in UH history and leave a legacy that will touch hearts and minds for generations.”
In contrast to its University Circle-area neighbor and competitor Cleveland Clinic, UH has been much less active in adding new health care facilities in Cleveland. Instead it has been busily constructing suburban health care offerings.
One of UH’s most recent additions opened in June 2023 — the $236 million, 216,000-square-foot expansion of the Ahuja Medical Center at Harvard and Richmond roads in the eastern suburb of Beachwood. The first phase of Ajuha opened in 2011.
“The Iris S. and Bert L. Wolstein Center represents a deliberate investment in our caregivers,” Megerian said in his e-mail. “A mission-critical home for learning, it will usher in a new era of learning and innovation, allowing us to deliver on our promise to teach and to discover in new, dynamic ways and in a stunning facility.”
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