The Ohio State University Primary Care
Location:
Sector:
Size:
Westerville, OH
Healthcare
13,000 SF
Story:
Colliers Project Management contracted with the building owner - Physicians Realty Trust – to provide a turnkey medical office buildout for The Ohio State University. Colliers worked diligently with The Ohio State University leadership team and associated departments to generate a floor plan that met all its needs. Subsequently, Colliers led efforts to permit and bid the project, performed construction management from groundbreaking to closeout and coordinated with all tenant stakeholders throughout the process.
Hurdles:
• Construction broke ground just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic truly took hold and created material delays, work shortages and social distancing requirements, proving a significant challenge for a project in which the #1 priority was hitting a very firm completion date.
• The existing 2-story building was constructed as a standard office building. Overtime, medical office users took over. With the addition of OSU, the building would become 100% occupied and 100% medical office. Medical offices demand more capacity from utilities, such as heating, cooling, ventilation, power, water and sanitary. Prior to OSU moving in, the building utilities were maxed out.
• The existing medical office tenants, including a surgery center, were seeing patients upwards of 14 hours per day. In no way was construction to disturb the tenants and their patients during business hours.
• When Colliers was pulled into the project, it was determined that the speculative floor plan previously laid out for OSU was hugely insufficient in meeting the tenant’s needs. The team was forced to backtrack on an already aggressive and inflexible schedule.
Solutions:
• Colliers, with assistance from the General Contractor, was able to strategically traverse the construction process to meet the project milestones. To address material shortages, the team adjusted the project sequencing to progress with what was available. And to address proper social distancing among the trades, the team staggered schedules across multiple shifts.
• Since existing utilities were designed to serve a standard commercial office space, proper steps were taken to make the 13,000 SF suite sufficient for OSU’s medical office specifications. Upgrades, such as a separate 4” sanitary line run directly to the right-of-way, new electrical panels, additional heating/cooling units, new ventilation and new fiber, were designed, permitted and constructed.
• Building common areas needed cleaned multiple times a day, adjacent tenant spaces needed to be accessed, utilities had to be temporarily shut off, the parking lot had to be utilized for construction workers and storage, and sound had to be kept to a minimum. Colliers performed ongoing coordination with both property management and the GC to ensure tenant disruptions were mitigated.
• Colliers procured a new architect, implemented an aggressive design schedule, and facilitated extensive communication in order to maintain the critical path. The team submitted for permit on its original target date.
“The Colliers project management team are excellent communicators and very transparent, which ensures that we resolve any issues very quickly and in a cost-effective manner, while still providing the best solution(s) and ultimately excellent project results.”
- Garth Dahdah
Director, Strategic Growth and Facility Operations
The Ohio State University
“The quality that Colliers Project Management provided for a large tenant buildout in Westerville is a testament to their expertise and depth of experience.
Even with the challenges faced during a pandemic, this project was delivered on time and on budget. Gavin Jones exhibited outstanding leadership in the level of customer service, attention to detail, and dedication.”
- Amie Washburn
Senior Property Manager
Physicians Realty Trust
Colliers | Greater Columbus Region | Project Management
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