Ohio State Wexner Medical Center temporarily relocates emergency department entrance in support of the construction of a new inpatient tower. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State University
The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center’s emergency department entrance has been temporarily relocated to accommodate the construction of a new hospital tower.
The short-term emergency department entrance will be located on the north side of The James Cancer Hospital — located at W. 12th Ave. — until fall 2025, Marti Leitch, director of media relations for the Wexner Medical Center, said in an email.
Leitch said patients requiring emergency services must directly enter from W. 12th Ave., between the Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute and Harding Hospital.
The entrance relocation began Jan. 28 and will remain in place until the new hospital tower is complete, Leitch said.
The tower, which is currently 92% complete, is part of the university inpatient hospital and will hold up to 820 beds, university spokesperson Dan Hedman said in an email.
“Scheduled to open in early 2026, the 1.9 million-square-foot inpatient tower is the largest single facilities project ever undertaken at Ohio State,” Hedman said.
Leitch said the tower is necessary to adjust for central Ohio’s population growth, as well as replace Doan and Rhodes Hall, which is no longer compatible with modern medical technology.
The inpatient hospital is a part of Framework 3.0, Ohio State’s third phase to develop and transform its main campus.
One of the university’s focus points is improving the medical center by renovating or replacing facilities for future growth and better functional organization, according to the Framework 3.0 webpage.
Construction for the inpatient hospital began September 2020 and is set to wrap up in spring 2026. The project will cost the university roughly $1.9 billion, according to Ohio State’s active project website.
In addition to 820 beds, the tower will also house 51 neonatal intensive bassinets and state-of-the-art diagnostic, treatment and inpatient service areas.
The university previously announced the Robert F. Wolfe and Edgar T. Wolfe Foundation donated $50 million to help build the inpatient tower Feb. 19, 2024, according to a press release.
“This is among the largest gifts ever made to the medical center,” the release states.
In recognition of the donation, two spaces in the tower will be named in its honor: the John F. Wolfe Lobby and the Wolfe Foundation Crossroads, according to prior Lantern reporting.
John F. Wolfe was a publisher for The Columbus Dispatch, as well as chair and CEO of The Dispatch Printing Company. Ann Wolfe, his widow, served as a member of Cleveland’s University Hospitals Board and chair of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Foundation Board, the release states.
The foundation has also supported multiple Ohio State initiatives like cancer research, veterinary medicine and athletic facilities, according to the release.
“I think John F. Wolfe would be delighted about his family’s continued efforts to improve the quality of life in central Ohio, and health care is vital to quality of life,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in the release.
