(Plain Press, August 2017)   MetroHealth System announced it has selected Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, Inc. (HGA) to lead the design planning, architecture and engineering of The MetroHealth System’s campus transformation, which includes the construction of a new hospital tower on its West 25^th Street main campus. MetroHealth’s Board of Trustees approved the selection of the national firm at its regularly scheduled board meeting on June 28^th.

“HGA demonstrated clearly that it has the motivation, imagination, experience and knowledge to undertake a project as large — and as important to Cuyahoga County — as the nearly $1 billion MetroHealth campus transformation,” said Walter Jones, senior vice president of campus transformation at MetroHealth. “This firm truly was the best qualified candidate for the job, and it best understood our goals and aspirations.”

15 firms responded to a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the Master Architect and Engineer of Record. The scope of work outlined in the proposal included the design for a hospital tower, connector building to the existing Critical Care Pavilion and a new central utility plant. All proposals were reviewed and ranked, with the top four firms making in-person presentations to a selection committee.

The new structures assigned to HGA are an integral part of the future of MetroHealth, and make up most the campus transformation project, estimated for completion in 2023.

According to a report from Cleveland State University’s Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, MetroHealth’s transformation plan may support up to 5,618 new and existing jobs that could result in $873.3 million in total output of economic benefit for Cuyahoga County. The study says the city of Cleveland would see most of the impact, with more than 3,200 jobs supported and a total economic benefit of more than $513 million.

Next, MetroHealth will select a construction manager for the new 1200-1500 car parking garage, which it plans to start building at the end of this summer.