University Hospitals selects contractor for $41M Center for Emergency Medicine, plans for spring 2011 completion

CLEVELAND, Ohio — University Hospitals has selected a general contractor for its $41 million, 54,000-square-foot Center for Emergency Medicine, which it plans to complete in spring 2011.

The Center for Emergency Medicine, to be located at the health system’s University Circle main campus, is a key part of UH’s $1.2 billion strategic plan, called Vision 2010. The plan includes University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center, being built in Beachwood, as well as a cancer hospital, set to open in 2011 and a neonatal intensive care unit that opened last year at University Circle.

The Center for Emergency Medicine will more than double UH’s amount of space available for adult and pediatric emergency care, according to a statement from UH. The new facility, with 58 patient rooms, will accommodate more than 80,000 anticipated visits. It will have separate entrances for ambulance traffic and drive-up patients, as well as a new adjacent parking garage, according to UH.

UH selected Panzica Construction of Mayfield Village as the Center for Emergency Medicine’s general contractor.

UH has undergone a financial turnaround since 2003 when Thomas F. Zenty III became its chief executive. A year later, UH reported its first operating profit in 11 years, thanks in part to Zenty’s decisions to cut jobs, close a money-losing hospital, sell a psychiatric facility and exit the health insurance business.

In early December, UH announced plans to add about 500 jobs in the next year, primarily physicians to staff its new cancer hospital and medical center in Beachwood.