Major rebuilding projects at Toledo's two largest hospital campuses have been talked about for months, but there was little outward appearance anything was actually happening.

That's about to change.

Beginning next month, construction equipment will dig large foundation holes for two large buildings: an eight-story, multi-use inpatient building at Toledo Hospital and a four-story heart center at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, where some digging has already begun. Soon after foundation holes are dug, large cranes will begin putting up the steel framework of both buildings, and by next spring, the outer surfaces of both structures should be finished.

Though both projects were announced some time ago, more details are emerging about the construction plans.

The bigger of the two is known as the Toledo Hospital "Renaissance" project, an eight-story, 500,000-square-foot building planned for the southeast corner of the ProMedica-owned hospital campus that includes major shifting of entrances and other building changes. This phase of the project - the first was the $30 million rebuilding and relocation of the hospital's emergency department - will cost $156 million and employ 400 full-time construction workers. A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled today, and the building is expected to be ready for occupancy in December, 2007.

Gary Gordon, senior vice president of Toledo Hospital, said the project took years of design work, and the rebuilding "will dramatically change the appearance of our campus."

"We're very excited," he said. "It's been a long time in planning."

Highlights of the Toledo Hospital project:

●The building will include 289 patient beds that will replace existing beds at the hospital. Included are new neonatal intensive care unit space, new adult intensive care unit (ICU) space, and new replacement pediatric patient beds for Toledo Children's Hospital, which is located inside Toledo Hospital. All patient rooms will be private and more than double in size from 100 square feet today to 250 square feet. Rooms will include flat-screen TVs, computer hookups, and expanded family space.

●Medical helicopters get a new landing space. Two helipads will be built on top of the new eight-story building, replacing the existing helipad, which is on a parking lot on the north side of the campus. The space where medical helicopters now land might eventually be used for a three-story medical services building.

●The main entrance to the hospital, which faces south now, will essentially rotate 45 degrees to the east and face Oatis Boulevard. Near the new main entrance will be a new separate entrance for Toledo Children's Hospital. Oatis will be widened by 2007 to four lanes and straightened to fix a troublesome intersection at Oatis and North Cove.

●Over the next decade, more rebuilding of the hospital campus could take place. Mr. Gordon said all existing patient space at the hospital will eventually be replaced. Initial demolition of existing buildings will include tearing down the top six floors of the existing south hospital tower and keeping the bottom three levels. This will take place sometime after 2007. Other old buildings on the campus may eventually be torn down and replaced with multi-story patient or medical office buildings.

"I've done a lot of things in my [35-year] career, and this definitely tops the list," said Rosemary Jancsin, registered nurse director at Toledo Hospital and a member of one of the design committees for Toledo Hospital's rebuilding.

Officials at Mercy Health Partners, parent company of St. Vincent, are pretty pleased with their upcoming construction plans too. They've begun some site work for their $45 million heart center that will be built across from St. Vincent along Cherry Street. The four-story structure will contain 140,000 square feet, with room to add 36,000 more square feet if necessary.

Bill Sutton, vice president of operations for Mercy, said the framework of the building will be up by the end of the year, and staff hope to move in by July, 2007.

Under way inside St. Vincent are an additional $45 million worth of renovations that, among other things, will shift almost all St. Vincent patient rooms from semiprivate to private and make the rooms much larger. All the renovations should be wrapped up by 2009, Mr. Sutton said.

Along with those changes, Mercy officials have contracted a study to see how it can partner with others on neighborhood improvements along Cherry Street. They hope to have the results of that study completed this summer.

Although they held neighborhood meetings about their expansion, Toledo Hospital has been criticized by some neighbors about the hospital's planned expansion across Monroe Street. The city plan commission recommended rezoning parkland for the expansion - despite a deed provision prohibiting that.

Residents in the neighborhood that surrounds the 6.3-acre Colony Park relied on that provision, among other arguments, in stopping a proposed 24-hour basketball facility called "The Hoop" from being built in 1999.

However, I-475 was allowed to be built through the middle of the parkland in the 1970s, dividing it into two sections. Toledo Hospital and the city are hoping that the Ohio Department of Transportation will use the parkland for a planned new interchange that will give Toledo Hospital direct access between the freeway and the hospital's redesigned front entrance on Oatis.

Contact Luke Shockman at:

lshockman@theblade.com

or 419-724-6084.

First Published May 10, 2005, 11:39 a.m.