<p>Ohio State wins $100 million toward Medical Center expansion</p>
<p>Wednesday, December 29, 2010 03:13 PM
By Encarnacion Pyle</p>
<p>The Columbus Dispatch
Brooke LaValley | Dispatch</p>
<p>Ohio State University received a belated Christmas gift today: a $100 million grant that will add a radiation oncology center to its $1 billion Medical Center expansion.</p>
<p>“This is wonderful news. This is going to allow us to do something new – something that wasn’t even in our plans,” said Dr. Steven Gabbe, CEO of the Medical Center.</p>
<p>Ohio State beat out more than a half dozen other schools for the federal grant that was inserted into the health-care reform bill last year to finance construction at a university hospital.</p>
<p>“This unprecedented project will bring thousands of new jobs to central Ohio and further cement our state’s leadership in providing the highest quality of medical care,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown, who announced the award this afternoon.</p>
<p>Campus officials said ProjectOne, the largest construction project in the university’s history, will position Ohio State to become a top-20 academic medical center.</p>
<p>It will create as many as 5,000 temporary construction jobs, 6,000 permanent jobs at the university and another 4,000 jobs at businesses near the campus by 2015, they said.</p>
<p>“This expansion will broaden the university’s reach by unifying cutting-edge education and research to ensure access to top-notch care for all Ohioans,” said Brown, who also wrote a letter supporting the school’s application for the competitive grant.</p>
<p>To finance the project, Ohio State is issuing $925 million in bonds and seeking $75 million in donations. The original goal was to have the $75 million in hand by the time the expansion is complete in 2014.</p>
<p>To be eligible for the federal money, Ohio State had to show that its Medical Center is critical to providing greater access to health care in the state. The grant money also could compromise no more than 40 percent of the total project cost, and the state had to prove it had a plan to cover the remainder of the cost.</p>
<p>The $100 million was inserted into the health-care overhaul bill by Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat with ties to the University of Connecticut.</p>
<p>Connecticut leaders have said they need to the money to help pay a $362 million renovation and expansion of UConn’s John Dempsey Hospital. In June, Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed a law that set aside $240 million in state bonds to cover the majority of the construction cost as long as the university received the federal grant to pay the rest.</p>
<p>But Ohio State landed the grant.</p>
<p>The centerpiece for ProjectONE will be a 17-story tower that will include the Critical Care Center, the new James Cancer Hospital and the Richard J. Solove Research Institute. The project also includes new floors for the Ross Heart Hospital and other renovations.</p>
<p>Demolition of some buildings started last year. Ohio State officially broke ground on the project in June. The hospital tower is expected to be finished in 2014. </p>
<p>Source: <a href=“http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/12/29/Ohio-State-wins-$100-million-medical-expansion.html?sid=101”>http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/12/29/Ohio-State-wins-$100-million-medical-expansion.html?sid=101</a></p>
<p>Go Bucks!!! lol</p>