University Hospital in spotlight at the Master Planning and Facilities Committee meeting Wednesday

Delaney Kerstetter
Fri, 05 Dec 2025 04:31:04 +0000
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The Borealis Sculpture, near the Longaberger Alumni House on Tuesday. Credit: Daniel Bush | Campus Photo Editor

Facilities Design and Construction reflected on its largest project — the 1.9 million-square-foot Wexner Medical Center’s new University Hospital — set to open in February 2026 at the Master Planning and Facilities Committee meeting Wednesday.

With the construction completed in September, the hospital is one of more than 1,300 projects, valuing more than $2 billion with 17 completed projects costing over $4 million.

“This milestone represents an extraordinary cross-campus effort and reflects the tremendous support of this board,” said Kristin Poldemann, vice president of the facilities group.

Ragan Fallang, executive project manager for the inpatient hospital, said in a Buckeyeview video that the project was the largest in university history, with 8,000 individuals completing safety orientation and 1,200 people working on site per day.

Initial planning and design began in early 2018 and construction began in September 2020, according to the facilities website.

Due to the new hospital, Ohio State built a $102 million parking garage, which provides 1,800 more parking spaces, according to Poldemann. In addition, a roughly $45 million central sterile supply facility was completed in December 2020.

The hospital involved 15,000 tons of structural steel and 10 million linear feet of electrical wiring, Fallang said.

New features in the building include an outdoor terrace, a conservatory, connections to the parking garage and a uniquely situated second floor that is entirely nonclinical.

“There’s really nothing quite like this on the hospital’s campus today,” Fallang said. “To have such a large area that’s nonclinical in a hospital is pretty interesting.”

With 300 individuals a day coming in for training, Karen Sharp, director of inpatient tower activation, said in the Buckeyeview video, the hospital is on track to open Feb. 22, 2026.

“To see individuals come from our older facilities, to be able to start imagining themselves working in this beautiful facility is really a pleasure every day,” she said.

Usually, major projects like the hospital take longer than planned and surpass the budget, but the project has maintained what has been planned, according to Poldemann.

“The statistics around mega-projects are roughly about 80 percent have schedule overruns and 60 percent have budget overruns,” Poldemann said in a Buckeyeview video shown at the meeting. “To have a project like this here at Ohio State be on time, on budget has really been fantastic.”

In addition to the hospital, notable projects have been completed including Upper Arlington Community Center, East Hospital dock expansion and Bricker Hall’s relocation, Poldemann said.