The unveiling was a preview of Wednesday’s public open house beginning with a Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting at 11:30 a.m., followed by tours of the facility from noon to 6 p.m. The new space will be home to 17 different medical offices by the end of April.
Only one practice, OB/GYN Associates, is open there currently, with others following within days.
The project, just part of the reuse of the former FairOaks Mall, represents the hospital’s largest financial investment ever not located on its 17th Street campus, according to Jim Bickel, the hospital’s president and chief executive officer.
It also is part of the hospital’s long-publicized collaboration with the City of Columbus and the Columbus Parks and Recreation Department to turn the former mall into a health, wellness and recreation facility.
Hospital leadership praised project partners with BSA LifeStructures, RSP Architects, SSR Engineers and Turner Construction.
The 125,000-square foot space, in the works for five years, features a bright ambience from refined skylights of the old FairOaks Mall’s glass ceilings, plus about a dozen other skylights added to allow natural light into the facility on 25th Street. The old skylights may be the only element in the hospital’s segment of NexusPark that visitors recognize from the former FairOaks facility.
“As you can imagine, turning a shopping mall into a health care facility was not an easy feat,” Bickel said, mentioning that the project also had to be guided through the pandemic and its hurdles. “But we’ve used a significant amount of input from our patients, our customers, physicians, and other health care professionals to design the space and bring it to a reality.
“So the addition of this facility for CRH helps further our mission to improve the health and well-being of those that we serve, and aligns with our strategy to grow high-quality care and services, as well as to attract and retain top talent.”
Wednesday’s Open House
The public is invited to attend a special Columbus Regional Health open house for its Nexus Park campus, including a Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting ceremony, from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday. The ribbon-cutting ceremony will kick-off the event at 11:30 a.m., with self-guided tours of portions of the facility available from noon until 6 p.m. Tours will be available throughout the open house.
The event is free. Attendees should enter the facility through Entrance 3, which is located on the southwest side of the facility, off of 25th Street (where Elder-Beerman’s department store once was).
Parking is available via the main parking lot of the campus.
For the complete story and more photos, see Wednesday’s print edition of The Republic or check back here at therepublic.com.
