A joint venture of Chicago-based Walsh Construction and New York City-based Turner Construction has finished work on a new $1.5 billion hospital at Ohio State University in Columbus, according to a Monday news release.
The 1.9 million-square-foot, 26-story Wexner Medical Center University Hospital tower contains 820 beds, per the announcement. It also features state-of-the-art diagnostic, treatment and inpatient service areas. In addition, the facility contains advanced spaces for emergency care, imaging, operating rooms, critical care and medical/surgical units.
The project broke ground in 2020 after the university’s Board of Trustees approved professional services and construction contracts on the job that summer. The hospital hit its goal of opening in early 2026 when it welcomed 425 patients on Feb. 22, per the university. With its completion, it’s the largest single-facility construction project in the school’s history.
Project background
Construction wasn’t without issues, however: The building team halted work in November 2022 after an inspection revealed cracking in a concrete column. Despite the issue, the JV turned over areas of the hospital 40 days early on average and achieved substantial completion ahead of schedule, per the release.
The $1.5 billion number reflects the construction cost of the project, Chris McFadden, senior vice president of global communications for Turner, told Construction Dive. OSU listed the total project price at $1.9 billion.
Overall, 1,200 workers were active on the jobsite daily, per the release. The team installed 15,000 tons of structural steel and nearly 1,900 miles of wiring, according to Turner.
“The scale and complexity of this project required extraordinary alignment across the entire team,” said Nigel Carter, vice president and construction executive at Turner, in the news release. “Their collaboration, discipline, and dedication established a new benchmark for how major healthcare projects can be delivered.”
The university bankrolled the project with auxiliary health system funds, university debt and fundraising, according to the OSU news release announcing trustee approval.
The hospital also includes:
- 24 state-of-the-art operating rooms. These include two hybrid neurovascular suites, which integrate imaging and surgical capabilities for highly complex procedures.
- More than 200 intensive care beds.
- 44 private neonatal intensive care rooms and 51 NICU bassinets.
- Nearly 100 isolation-infection rooms, with the capacity to convert an entire 60-bed floor into a full isolation unit during public health emergencies.
In addition to the hospital tower, construction also improved the nearby Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, per the release. Renovations and infrastructure upgrades expanded the cancer hospital’s capacity by 148 beds.
“Achieving substantial completion ahead of schedule reflects the strength, expertise, and leadership of our joint venture, and we are proud to see this vision for a healthier future realized,” said Tom Caplis, senior vice president of healthcare at Walsh, in the news release.
Healthcare construction remains healthy
Healthcare construction has remained one of the lone bright spots in the building industry alongside data centers as cost, labor issues and ongoing geopolitical conflict dampen owner enthusiasm for new builds. Alongside data center construction, healthcare planning numbers have kept their momentum as the commercial sector has weakened in the first part of 2026, according to Dodge Construction Network.
For its part, Turner has other healthcare projects in progress. The firm started vertical construction on the $900 million Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the firm announced on March 11. Walsh is working on the $781 million Cancer and Advanced Ambulatory Building at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
Other contractors are also getting in on the sector’s action as well. St. Louis-based McCarthy Building Cos., for example, topped out the $3.7 billion California Tower for UC Davis Health in Sacramento in February. Meanwhile, Santa Clara, California-based DPR Construction broke ground on a $380 million healthcare facility for Sutter Health in Modesto, California, in January.
