Digital Futures II at 3090 Exploration Avenue in Uptown.
Cincinnati Children’s recently acquired a newly constructed office building at 3090 Exploration Avenue in the Cincinnati Innovation District® (CID) in Uptown. JobsOhio provided a $32 million low-interest loan to help Cincinnati Children’s purchase the Digital Futures II building located in the Digital Futures Complex; in return, the health system is committed to creating 100 new research jobs with a payroll of $10 million and increasing research that relies on federal funding.
“As the leader in improving child health, Cincinnati Children’s leads the way in research and innovation – and 3090 Exploration Avenue will be the premier address for this work,” said Steve Davis, MD, President and CEO of Cincinnati Children’s. “The building will be anchored by hundreds of our researchers, which we believe will be a catalyst to help drive additional investment and jobs in the Cincinnati Innovation District.”
The groundbreaking for the Digital Futures Complex took place in 2019. Uptown Consortium, Inc. (UCI) selected Terrex Development & Construction and Messer Construction for the project. “A critical aspect of the development has been our partnership with the Avondale community, which played an active role in shaping the project,” said Peter Horton, principal of Terrex Development & Construction. “Community feedback and economic inclusion protocols were integrated to ensure Avondale residents benefit from job opportunities during and after construction.”
Cincinnati Children’s will occupy the top two floors of the building, which is about 60,000 square feet, and the offices will be home to 200 employees focused on non-laboratory research. These employees will come from the health system’s Burnet Campus in Avondale; the two buildings they are moving out of, the William Cooper Procter Research Pavilion and the Clinical Sciences Pavilion, will be reconfigured to include laboratories.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said, “Cincinnati Children’s is already the top pediatric hospital in the nation, and this investment within the Cincinnati Innovation District will allow doctors and researchers to expand their work to improve care for children worldwide. The life-changing ideas and innovation that will originate at 3090 Exploration Avenue will further cement Ohio’s position as the heart of innovation and opportunity.”
“Bringing the nation’s preeminent children’s hospital to the Cincinnati Innovation District is a transformative step toward realizing the vibrant communities envisioned by the JobsOhio Innovation District Initiative,” said J.P. Nauseef, president and CEO of JobsOhio.
The interior space will be built out in nine to 12 months. The four lower floors, which total 30,000 square feet, will be leased to other organizations to complement the innovation environment in Uptown. The building will also include a breakfast and lunch dining concept; details about that are expected to be released later this year.
The newly acquired building continues to fuel the growth of the complex. The UC Digital Futures building, which opened in September 2022, continues its Phase 2 construction, building out the second, third, fourth and fifth floors. Those floors will eventually be home to UC’s cybersecurity program, restricted access research and the College of Engineering and Applied Science.