The Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center is moving forward with plans for a new medical center tower.
Medical center and university trustees will meet Thursday and Friday to discuss spending $71 million from health system operating funds to hire engineers and architects, among other expenses.
According to the Board of Trustees meeting schedule, the total project cost is yet to be determined. Design work should continue into the fall of 2019.
The tower would have up to 840 hospital beds, all in private-room settings. It would also include 60 neonatal intensive care unit bassinets and a connector to The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.
It would be the largest single facilities project ever undertaken at Ohio State. Ohio State president Michael Drake has said he hopes the new hospital will open within 10 years.
The original Ohio State hospital building was erected in 1951.
