Dayton Children’s plans a $140 million expansion

Dayton Children’s Hospital

Established 1920

CEO and President Deborah A. Feldman

Source: Dayton Children’s annual report

Dayton Children’s Hospital announced Wednesday it will build a new $140 million, eight-story tower on its Valley Street campus that will provide comprehensive care to children with cancer and to critically-ill newborns.

Construction on the 260,000-square-foot tower and new central utilities plant is expected to begin early next year and be completed in 2017, said president and CEO Deborah Feldman. The project will not create any new positions, she added.

FKP Architects, a nationally recognized pediatric hospital architectural firm, will lead design and planning for the development, but the layout of the project has not yet been determined. Construction will be managed by Danis Building Construction Co.

Feldman said the hospital’s board of trustees only recently approved the long-range facility and campus renewal plan, called Destination 2020, to address aging facilities that are approaching “the end of useful life for the delivery of clinical care.”

About 70 percent of the hospital’s facilities have been around for more than 35 years. “So while this is significant, it is not an expansion and does not require additional staff,” Feldman said. “The intention is to provide the right spaces to continue delivering exceptional pediatric care well into the future.”

The plans for the new facilities are the result of a nearly nine-month assessment and planning processes.

The hospital is counting on charitable contributions to help finance the project. Feldman said the hospital plans to finance the project with a combination of cash reserves and philanthropy. “We are able to do so, because we have and continue to manage our finances effectively, and the community has continued to generously support our mission,” she said.

“The Dayton Children’s Foundation Board is leading the philanthropy effort for the project and are currently working through their process plans.”

Dayton Children’s expansion plans come as other regional hospital systems either have completed or have projects underway that total nearly $500 million in hospital building investments.

Kettering Health Network has been involved in several recent projects. In May, its Grandview Medical Center completed a $40 million, 70,000-square-foot renovation and expansion. The project moved departments around to better streamline hospital services, and included construction of a five-story tower for patient rooms, services, new lobby area, restaurant-style kitchen and new main entrance to the hospital.

Kettering Health and the Greene Medical Foundation made nearly $2 million in improvements into Greene Memorial Hospital in the past year. And last year, Kettering Health opened the $135 million, five-story Indu and Raj Soin Medical Center in Beavercreek.

Bethesda Butler County TriHealth Hospital also opened a new emergency department in Hamilton.

For the past year, Premier Health has invested $12 million to renovate and expand the Miami Valley Hospital emergency room. In the past two years, Premier Health also has spent $51 million to build a new Comprehensive Cancer Center at Miami Valley Hospital South, built a five-story, 93,000-square-foot building on the hospital’s Centerville campus, a new patient tower and maternity center.

In July, Beckett Springs Hospital opened a $10 million, 48-bed private facility for mental health and addiction services in West Chester Twp. It employs 85 people with eventual plans to have 150.

Last month, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center announced it will build a $118 million proton therapy center at its Liberty Twp. campus in Butler County. The 80,000-square-foot proton therapy and research center for cancer treatment for pediatric patients. Construction begins next year.