CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Children’s has acquired a recently constructed office building in the Cincinnati Innovation District that will be home to over 200 employees who focus on non-laboratory research. The health system will occupy the top two floors of the six-story, 180,000-square-foot building at 3090 Exploration Ave.
The purchase price was undisclosed. JobsOhio provided a $32 million low-interest loan to help Children’s acquire the property, which was built by Terrex Development & Construction. As part of the agreement with JobsOhio, Children’s committed to creating 100 new research jobs with a payroll of at least $10 million. The health system also committed to increasing research that relies on federal funding.
The two floors to be occupied by Children’s encompass a total of 60,000 square feet. The four lower levels will be leased to other organizations. Cushman & Wakefield will market those spaces for lease. The building will also include a breakfast and lunch dining concept, details of which will be announced in the coming months.
Build-out of the interior space for Children’s is expected to take nine to 12 months and will be overseen by TriVersity Construction. BHDP Architecture will lead the design. Motz Engineering will handle mechanical, electrical and plumbing, while RCF Group will provide furniture and Kolar Design will handle graphics and wayfinding.
Following construction, Children’s employees will move from two buildings on the health system’s Burnet Campus in Avondale — the William Cooper Procter Research Pavilion that opened in 2008 and the Clinical Sciences Pavilion that opened in 2015. Both spaces were originally designed to accommodate laboratories and will be reconfigured as such.