After the success of the Flats East Bank EB-5 Project, CiF
was eager to find another catalytic development project in Cleveland. As the
city has developed into a hub for advanced healthcare research and technology
(two of the world’s leading healthcare systems – the Cleveland Clinic and the
University Hospitals Health System (UH) – are based in the city), we at CiF
were interested in finding a way to use EB-5 to support Cleveland’s growing
healthcare industry.
It quickly became apparent that University Hospitals’ “Vision
2010” system-wide expansion plan would be an excellent fit for EB-5. UH’s multi-year
plan to update existing and construct new healthcare facilities not only
satisfied government standards for the EB-5 program in terms of job creation
and supporting economic development but also appealed to the interests of EB-5
Investors.
Recognizing this opportunity to attract foreign capital to
Cleveland, CiF and UH worked together to fund an EB-5 investment project that included
construction of two new hospital facilities: the Ahuja Medical Center in Beachwood and the Seidman Cancer Center located at UH’s Main Campus inUniversity Circle.
The Ahuja Medical Center is a state-of-the-art general
services hospital, built with an eco-friendly design and an interior layout
optimized to provide a stress-free experience and promote positive caregiver
and patient interactions. The hospital offers a wide variety of medical and
surgical services to Cleveland’s eastern and southeastern communities,
including inpatient and outpatient procedures plus access to UH’s nationally
renowned Rainbow Babies pediatric healthcare services.
Ahuja was built with ecological sustainability in mind and
the structure is designed to maximize efficient internal energy use, reduce water
use by 25%, and improve indoor air quality. The facility currently has 144 beds
though Ahuja’s flexible design makes it easy for additions to be built, as use
of the facility increases over time.
Where Ahuja is a general services hospital, the Seidman
Cancer Center is a specialty facility that combines all of UH’s cancer fighting
services into a single building. Prior to Seidman, UH’s Cancer Program was
scattered across multiple sites. However, cancer services are now consolidated
into a single building, providing multiple benefits including streamlined
clinical trials and the sharing of scarce medical resources. Another important
advantage Seidman offers is that it has allowed UH to purchase some of the
world’s most advanced cancer fighting technology and have those tools available
to all of UH’s oncology specialists.
The freestanding Seidman Center is located at the UH Main
Campus and is connected by walkways to other facilities but is still its own
120-bed facility with its own inpatient and outpatient services.
In the end, 120 CiF EB-5 Investors invested a total of $60
million dollars with University Hospitals as part of its system-wide expansion.
Since their construction, both Ahuja and Seidman have created jobs for local
residents and continue to deliver positive healthcare outcomes to Northeast
Ohio patients. UH is an important partner for Greater Cleveland – not just as a
healthcare provider but as an engine for continued economic growth – and CiF is
glad to have been able to work with UH on this Project.
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