Read the original article on Crain’s Cleveland Business.
MetroHealth Taps Turner, Hammes for Campus Transformation
MetroHealth has selected Turner Construction Co. to lead construction management of the system’s campus transformation, including a new 270-room hospital slated to replace its aging patient towers.
Turner’s proposed team includes four local partners and three of the firms are minority-owned.
MetroHealth also announced that Hammes Co., a health care facilities development company based in Wisconsin, has been selected as the owner’s rep for the project, meaning it will oversee all management aspects of construction and ensure plans are completed on schedule. Hammes will partner with Northeast Ohio’s Signet of Akron and Moody Nolan. Moody Nolan managed the renovation of the MetroHealth Lyndhurst Health Center in 2016. Signet served as the owner’s rep for the building of the MetroHealth Brecksville Health and Surgery Center.
MetroHealth’s board of trustees approved the hiring of the companies at its board meeting Wednesday, Sept. 28.
“Turner has vast experience in health care construction management. They have the expertise and knowledge to undertake a project as important as MetroHealth’s nearly $1 billion campus transformation,” said Walter Jones, senior vice president of campus transformation at MetroHealth, in a statement. “The construction support of the locally owned companies allows us bring more jobs to the area while staying committed to diversity. All companies have a robust respect for the impact the project will have on the community.”
The companies will spend the next year in pre-construction planning, working with the master architect and engineer for the campus transformation project, Hammel, Green and Abrahamson Inc., according to a news release.
Meanwhile, a new 1500-car parking garage is being built on the main campus that will replace the current Southpoint garage, where the future hospital tower is to be constructed, according to the release.
Four firms responded to a request for qualifications for the construction manager role. Turner’s proposal included the four local partners.
Turner, meanwhile, is well-known in the local health space. It managed the construction of the Cleveland Clinic’s new 377,000-square-foot Taussig Cancer Center, which opened earlier this year.
“As the top health care builder, projects like these are our specialty,” Jason Jones, vice president and general manager of Turner Cleveland, said in a prepared statement. “We’ll use a lean construction process, and draw from both our local technical expertise and national best practices to deliver a high-quality health care facility for MetroHealth’s patients, staff and visitors.”
A space on MetroHealth’s main campus has been designated as construction headquarters for all the companies, according to the release. The hope is for the shared location to improve communication and collaboration, and therefore, save on time and costs.