Columbus Regional Hospital is embarking on a long-term vision that could drastically reshape its delivery of medical services as well as the community itself.
As The Republic’s Jana Wiersema reported last week, the hospital and the city are “finalizing a master plan for approximately 700 acres of hospital-owned property on Bartholomew County’s west side.”
Those 700 acres are a whole lot more than the hospital will ever need for future growth, so CRH has been working with city and county government, city planning and engineering departments, economic development and internationally acclaimed Design Workshop to bring about a comprehensive plan for the entire site.
Speaking to The Republic last week, CRH officials said the property has potential for development that includes “residential, mixed-use commercial and retail, office space, hotel and tourism, and ‘civic, community, and green space’.”
The property is high-visibility and presents intriguing development opportunities. It generally stretches from Jonesville Road/State Road 11 to Interstate 65 south of Walmart and other big-box stores that anchor the commercial development on West Jonathan Moore Pike/State Road 46.
As it looks forward in fulfilling its mission for decades to come, CRH is showing responsible stewardship and leadership. CRH is involving stakeholders early on in the process to come up with a master plan for development, serving not just its interests, but the community’s, for years to come.
While it’s early in this process, CRH officials are candid about several things. For starters, CRH’s landlocked campus on 17th Street has limitations. “We came to the conclusion that this campus wasn’t going to meet our long-term needs for a number of reasons,” CRH President and CEO Jim Bickel said.
Likewise, officials are candid about the development challenges present with portions of its new land. It’s not in the city of Columbus, so it likely will be annexed for facilitate development. There may be overlapping city and county obligations that will need worked through. There is a railroad on the property and elsewhere, some areas are in the flood plain.
“This is a multi-decade sort of evolution,” CRH Vice President of Strategic Facilities Planning and Operations David Lenart said. “Nothing’s going to happen in a couple of years.”
But what is happening is reassuring. CRH is being transparent, civic-minded and inclusive as it charts its way forward. That approach won praise from Mayor Jim Lienhoop. “Our community is well-served by a strong, locally-managed healthcare institution,” he said. “… We should all take some comfort in the fact that CRH is planning for the future.”
CRH spokeswoman Kelsey DeClue said the comprehensive plan approach “gives us the opportunity to steward that as the new owners of the land and to work with our community partners. … We know how to do it. We’re doing it with NexusPark. It’s kind of that same approach, of how does it align with our vision as a health system and what we want and wish for the community.”
We’ll see more of the development plans for this key property in our area in coming months. But we salute CRH for its transparency and for working with community partners in the finest tradition of “The Columbus Way.”
