Cincinnati Children's expansion would reshape Avondale

In the next step toward building its long-envisioned patient care tower, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center has asked the city to rezone more than 6 acres of residential Avondale to make way in the short term for a new parking garage and in the long term for the addition that would increase the hospital’s total number of beds to more than 700.

Last week, hospital representatives submitted petitions for zoning changes to sculpt the property to fit the envisioned care facility: “a 650,000-square foot building that will house 276 critical-care beds, related support functions including a roof-top heliport for emergency care and an emergency department.”

The property to be developed is directly north of Cincinnati Children’s main campus in Avondale along Burnet Avenue, hugging Erkenbrecher Avenue north and south from the Ronald McDonald House west to beyond Wilson Avenue. The zoning request does not affect the Ronald McDonald House.

The proposal calls for reshaping Erkenbrecher with an S curve to the north to meet Hearne Avenue. The zoning petitions cover two parcels of 3.642 acres and 3.09 acres.

More than a dozen residences would be torn down for the expansion.

Construction on the parking garage could begin as early as October. When finished, the garage would nearly double the square footage for parking.

Children’s officials have been planning this step for years. In October, the Cincinnati Children’s Board of Trustees approved the project. The zoning proposal says the new tower will offer 276 beds, but spokesman Terry Loftus said that with that construction, Children's will also decommission beds in its older A and B buildings. When the new facility is finished, total beds at the Burnet campus will increase from 410 to between 560 and 610. With the College Hill and Liberty Township facilities, total beds for the Children's system will rise to between 740 and 780.

To foster collaboration with Avondale residents ahead of the expansion, Cincinnati Children’s last year pledged $11.5 million to local organizations over the next five years to promote health in a place where life expectancy is nearly 20 years less than in wealthier Cincinnati neighborhoods.

The zoning petitions do not include costs for the project. Aside from the anticipated October start to garage construction, other building schedules have not been established. The project team includes Messer Construction, ZGF Architects LLC, GBBN Architects, and Concord Healthcare.

The Planning Commission, the city agency that would make a decision on the zoning petitions, has not yet scheduled the requests for hearings.

The Avondale avenue that will experience the shape change is named for Andrew Erkenbrecher, who founded the Cincinnati Zoo in 1875.