Cincinnati Children’s Hospital to construct $180M research tower

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Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center has confirmed plans for a new uptown research tower. Hospital officials say that construction on the new $180 million, 15-story tower will begin June of this year.

Work at the congested site will be performed by Messer Construction and is expected to be completed by summer 2015. The possibility of such a project was first reported on by the Business Courier last month.

The new tower will be located immediately next to, and integrated with a research tower Cincinnati Children’s completed in 2007. Officials declined to comment on future employment numbers at the new tower, but did state that the adjacent 11-story tower houses approximately 1,100 employees.


The $180 million Clinical Research Building will make Cincinnati Children’s Hospital the largest pediatric research center in the United States. Renderings provided.

In a memo obtained by UrbanCincy, Dr. Arnold Strauss, director of the Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation, stated, “In the five years since Location S opened, our research enterprise has greatly flourished. The construction of this Clinical Sciences Building will provide that room to grow, but will also allow consolidation of research efforts now occurring at the Oak campus, back together with our Clinical & Translational Research Clinic.”

Dr. Strauss believes that the 425,000 square feet of new research space will improve efficiency and increase the scope of the hospital’s patient-oriented research, while also delving deeper into childhood disease issues.

The contemporary tower will include new laboratories, an outpatient clinic, imaging facility, office space, supporting infrastructure, and was designed by a team of architecture firms including GBBN Architects, HDR, Inc., and Geier Brown Renfrow Architects.

“This new space will enable us to attract and retain more of the world’s top-notch researchers, innovators and clinicians who want to be at the leading edge of discovery,” Michael Fisher, president and CEO of Cincinnati Children’s, stated in a prepared release.

Hospital officials say that the project is being financed through a combination of operating cash and investments, future operating cash flows and private donations. The new building is one of six towers at least 100 feet in height UrbanCincy projects to be built over the remainder of the decade in Cincinnati.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=26721621 AJ Knee

    The rendering has me confused.  Is this being built along Erkenbrecher, with the main entrance at Harvey and Erkenbrecher?

    • http://www.UrbanCincy.com/ Randy A. Simes

       No, it’s being built immediately adjacent to the research tower they constructed in 2007. It is located along what is called Albert Sabin Way. Here’s a map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Albert+Sabin+Way,+Cincinnati,+OH&hl=en&ll=39.139853,-84.502896&spn=0.0017,0.003484&sll=41.878114,-87.629798&sspn=0.835385,1.783905&oq=albert+sabin&hnear=Albert+Sabin+Way,+Cincinnati,+Hamilton,+Ohio&t=m&z=19.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=510190413 Adam Nelson

      streetview.
      http://g.co/maps/yfjcd

      So can we assume there were some liberties taken with the render that there is something more akin to a parking lot in front of the building rather than a street? I highly doubt they would close off Sabin Way.

      Also, enduring side note, would be so pleased to see some other uses integrated with all this medical development so Pill Hill functioned as a dense urban neighborhood and not an industrial park. Doubtful that will ever happen.

    • http://www.UrbanCincy.com/ Randy A. Simes

       I don’t believe so. They are going to build the tower on that piece of open land in the middle of your linked Google Street View image. They’re going to wedge it into that small piece of land and connect it with the building they completed in 2007 on the left side of your view.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1432920033 Chas Wiederhold

    If the dunnhumbyUSA building is designed with similar flavor, I will be one happy camper.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=12305166 Jake Mecklenborg

    The only downside is that this is yet another high quality building will be hidden in the center of the hospital complex.  The new Medical Sciences building and Cincinnati Herald buildings are hidden on obscure streets while Martin Luther King Dr. continues to be an embarrassment. 

    • Zachary Schunn

      If the streetscaping of McMillan and Calhoun (in progress), Jefferson (appears complete for now), and Short Vine (to come) are any indication, MLK will happen… eventually.  I’m hoping sooner rather than later.

      And if Metro eventually gets the BRT they’re wanting, MLK should be a prime candidate for it since the roadway can already accommodate it.  (Of course, there are no major bus routes on MLK currently, but that can and should be changed.)

    • http://www.facebook.com/marshalt Marshal Thaxter

      This seems like an Ohio thing to me. Massive, nasty state roads and major city arterials lined with power lines and 1950′s one and two-story garbage. Impressive, multi-story institutions huddled a few blocks away in their own random agglomeration. 

      Billions and billions sunk into fancy institutional facilities mere feet from third world streetscapes.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=510190413 Adam Nelson

       I don’t think that’s exclusive to Ohio.