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Building boom

Posted on | February 16, 2011 | 1,916 views | Comments Off

Ohio State’s Medical Center expansion improves both healthcare and the local economy

By Adam King

The Ohio State Medical Center’s $1 billion transformation through 2014 has an immediate impact on the Ohio economy through the approximately 5,000 construction jobs it is creating.

Investing $1 billion in infrastructure is how most people first see Ohio State University’s Medical Center expansion endeavor. A new cancer hospital, a new Critical Care Center — facilities raised to provide improved health care in a nation that needs it as the Baby Boomer generation retires.

But what people might not visualize about the project is many of those capital improvement dollars will end up in the hands of Ohioans who provide the services that will create the Medical Center’s future.

More than 5,000 construction workers will have steady jobs during the project, which is slated to wrap up in 2014 — and this comes at a time when construction in the public and private sector has been dwindling because of the Great Recession.

Construction starts as a whole have dropped 26 percent in the past two years, according to McGraw-Hill Construction, and non-residential starts have been bleak. In January alone, the construction industry lost another 32,000 jobs, raising the industry’s unemployment rate to 22.5 percent.

Ohio shed 7,800 construction jobs in 2010, one of 36 states that saw declines.

But higher education and hospital construction are expected to be top performers in 2011, according to a majority of construction executives polled by the Associated General Contractors of America, and Ohio State’s Medical Center expansion is leading the way locally.

“This healthcare industry is not only fighting disease and healing the sick, it is also healing our economy and fighting unemployment,” said Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman when he introduced the project’s launch with OSU President Gordon Gee last year. “We understand the university carries with it a great economic clout in this community and they are very much a part of our city in many ways.”

Coupled with Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s expansion, Columbus is poised to gain 8,000 full-time, directly related jobs from health care construction, and, in Ohio State’s case, another 4,000 indirect jobs — positions that will spring up around the hospital to support all those new employees. That translates to $77 million in income tax for Columbus over the next 15 years.

But even before the expansion project is completed, investment in the city and the state comes via the construction.

Turner, which is co-managing the Medical Center expansion project, has been working on behalf of OSU with community organizations to identify economically and socially disadvantaged small businesses that meet Ohio’s EDGE program (Encouraging Diversity, Growth and Equity) requirements. EDGE participation aims for 5 percent of the contract award. Turner also is actively recruiting minority workers from the Near East Side.

Among other efforts, more than 1,000 community residents attended a construction employment info session in the fall and a life-skills workshop helped prepare people for apprenticeship applications and the interview process to land jobs on this or other industry opportunities. An EDGE Contract Mixer drew another 200 people to share information and form partnerships for future bidding opportunities.

It still stands to be a tough year for the construction industry overall, but in Ohio, OSU is clearly giving the industry a robust boost.