ProMedica’s proposed move downtown into a waterfront campus that includes the century-old Toledo Edison Steam Plant will add hundreds of new jobs to the city, but the community will have to sacrifice some precious parkland along the Maumee River.

Officials for the hospital operator, one of Toledo’s largest employers, unveiled renderings and details of its plans Thursday to a Toledo City Council committee. The company wants to build a five or six-story parking garage in the southwest quadrant of Promenade Park with one level below ground.

Mayor D. Michael Collins and members of council on Thursday lauded the company’s plans, including the surprise announcement that ProMedica wants the city to give it park property for the 800-space parking structure.

“Downtown Toledo in 2018 will be nothing like the downtown Toledo we have today in 2014,” the mayor said. “I believe ProMedica’s move will be like a domino effect of economic development downtown.”

City officials said the trade would be more than fair because the company intends to create 100 jobs when it moves 700 employees downtown. Of the 800 total downtown jobs, 575 jobs will be new to Toledo.

“They are coming from suburbs,” said Jeffrey Kuhn, ProMedica’s chief legal officer and chief construction and property management officer. “We want to create downtown as a real hub, and we are bringing those jobs into Toledo.”

The $40 million project also will create at least 310 construction jobs, Mr. Kuhn said.

In February, ProMedica announced it would move into the steam plant and the adjacent KeyBank building. ProMedica officials also said Thursday that the company would build a three-story glass addition to the former power plant on the Maumee River side of the building.

The company plans to keep both smoke stacks on the steam plant and maintain public access along the water, officials said.

The original plan included a possible underground parking structure beneath Promenade Park. That was a sticking point for some because the city had invested taxpayer money to make improvements in the park, such as grading toward the water. In October, 2013, nearly $2 million worth of improvements to Promenade Park started as the second phase to former Mayor Mike Bell’s plan to transform the green space with walkways and recreational areas.

The first phase, which began in July, 2012, with workers hauling huge amounts of soil to the old Federal Building site adjacent to Promenade Park and the steam plant, cost $386,000. The price tag for the final phase, which was to include a stage, concert lawn, pavilion, and a water splash pad, was never determined. Mayor Bell last year said the city would need private funding for those added amenities.

All work at the park was halted by Mayor Collins soon after he took office in January after he learned ProMedica was interested in moving.

Ms. Whitney said ProMedica would partner with the YMCA and JCC of Greater Toledo to open a branch in the lower level of the KeyBank building.

“We think the first floor of the KeyBank [building] could be a very important catalyst in the project and be more of a public space,” she said. “We think we could use it for our own health fairs or other public activities. ... Possibly, a cafe or coffee shop could go in there.”

ProMedica wants to use the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit program to incorporate the renovated steam plant into its corporate headquarters and plans to submit an application to meet the next deadline in early 2015. Ms. Whitney said the company also would apply for federal tax credits.

She said financing for the project also would include proceeds from selling its current headquarters on Richards Road and 16 other properties scattered throughout the area. Employees from these locations would relocate downtown.

Toledo City Council President Paula Hicks-Hudson said she will support conveying the parkland to ProMedica to make the project happen.

ProMedica’s plan to take up a portion of Promenade Park irked some.

U.S. District Court Judge James Carr, who two decades ago helped the city obtain the parkland through a land swap with the federal government, said downtown has very limited open riverfront space.

“It’s troublesome to me that after having acquired that property for the community at large, the city would now give it away or let it be acquired for building a parking garage,” Judge Carr said. “It was not what either the city or federal government had in mind.”

Sally Binard, who lives in Warehouse District, also thinks the park should not be reduced in size. “It took a long time for them to get that park built and it’s one of the few green spaces downtown, so it’s not acceptable that they are going to give Promenade Park to ProMedica.”

Contact Ignazio Messina at: imessina@theblade.com or 419-724-6171 or on Twitter @IgnazioMessina.

First Published November 7, 2014, 5:00 a.m.