CLEVELAND, Ohio — The MetroHealth System Board of Trustees Wednesday voted to spend an additional $133 million to finish its delayed Campus Transformation project.
The health system will spend $93 million to finish the now-under-construction Apex building, and $40 million to renovate the Outpatient Pavilion, both on MetroHealth’s main campus on Cleveland’s West Side.
The new plan delays the opening of Apex to patients to early 2026; the renovated Outpatient Pavilion will be completed at the same time, said MetroHealth spokesman Will Dube.
The extra money is in addition to the $131 million originally approved for the Apex project several years ago, the health system said. The new expenditure will be borrowed from the health system’s existing line of credit, Dube said.
The original concept for Apex was more focused on medical offices, but MetroHealth has decided that additional outpatient facilities are needed for patients in the neighborhood, Dube said.
The new plan is based on input from physicians, patients and community residents about what was needed in Apex, Dube said.
“We ended up making the decision to add significant additional ambulatory operating spaces and clinical spaces, which meant we had to redo a significant portion of the footprint for the building. We are basing the new plan on those inputs,” he said.
Once outpatient services are moved into Apex, MetroHelath will assess the best way to use the Outpatient Pavilion, Dube said. The $40 million will be used to set up community-focused activities, he said.
The creation of the Glick Center hospital tower and Apex medical office building were part of former CEO Dr. Akram Boutros’ vision, called the Campus Transformation project. The original plan called for the demolition of the Outpatient Pavilion to create green space.
The $759 million Glick Center opened in 2022. But Boutros’ successor, former CEO Airica Steed, slowed construction of the new Apex, saying the facility needed to devote more space to patient care.
In 2023, MetroHealth signaled that the design changes for Apex would increase construction costs for the building. At that time, Apex was expected to be completed in about year at a cost previously expected to be $168 million. That sum included the newly completed parking garage.
In May, Apex was said to be scheduled for completion in 2025. At that time, MetroHealth said it was being reconfigured as a new outpatient building with infusion rooms for cancer patients, and a higher number of rooms for medical procedures and exams.