Ronald Mcdonald House plans expansion
The Ronald Mcdonald House near Nationwide Children’s Hospital is planning to expand, part of a push by the hospital to extend development south of Livingston Avenue.
The hospital is seeking to rezone about two dozen parcels totaling 12.5 acres to allow development from Livingston Avenue to Beck Street on two blocks: between Parsons Avenue and Wager Street, and between Ann and 17th streets. All the parcels are owned by the hospital, its foundation or the Ronald Mcdonald House.
On the eastern portion, the hospital is looking to expand the Ronald Mcdonald House campus, at 711 E. Livingston Ave.
“The House plans to expand its existing facility south to East Beck Street,” Nationwide Children’s Hospital spokesperson Katelyn Hanzel said. “Central Ohio hospitals are growing, and the growth at the House is in direct response to patient stays at area hospitals.”
Hanzel noted that Ronald Mcdonald House, which serves several central Ohio hospitals, is growing in part because the number of nursery beds is growing at Ohiohealth Riverside Methodist Hospital and Ohio State Univer
sity Wexner Medical Center.
The house, built in 2008 with 80 rooms and expanded to 137 rooms in 2014, serves 4,500 families a year.
Hanzel did not say what plans, if any, the hospital has for the western portion, along Parsons Avenue, that the hospital has also asked to be rezoned.
In its rezoning application, the hospital said the sites could contain “a combination of the following: a hospital and related facilities; facilities for medicaland health-related uses; facilities oriented toward providing uses for the convenience or comfort of the staff and clientele of the foregoing uses; facilities to support the Ronald Mcdonald House and other office, retail and ancillary uses. Retail commercial facilities may also be developed.”
The new zoning would allow buildings up to 60 feet high in some areas and 110 feet high in others.
The hospital is scheduled to present its request to the Southside Area Civic Association on April 6.
Association President Liz Norris said she has not heard any details from the hospital or the Ronald Mcdonald House about their plans. She said she hasn’t heard any comments from residents one way or another on the expansion.
The move would continue the dramatic growth of Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the surrounding medical campus, which has spread along Livingston Avenue and 18th Street north of Interstate 70. A year ago, the hospital opened the $159 million Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion. jweiker@dispatch.com @Jimweiker