In order to build Grant Medical Center’s new 270,000-square-foot tower in downtown Columbus, Ohio, an existing post tension parking garage needed to be removed. With limited workspace and a complicated structure to demolish, Sehlhorst Equipment Services of Cleves, Ohio, is utilizing special equipment, deliberate phasing, and extra protections.
The 6th Street Blue concrete parking garage, which formerly held OhioHealth’s Grant Family Medicine facility on the ground floor, features post tension tendons that run longitudinally in the beams and both tangentially and longitudinally in the slab. The structure also includes mild reinforcement.
To ensure safety during demolition, temporary shoring supports the structure. Draped chain link fencing protects adjacent occupied buildings, a nearby parking lot, and surrounding streets.
Sehlhorst first performed a complete gut of the offices and interior walls on the first floor using skid steers and mini excavators to remove interior structures and slab on grade items.
“The size of the equipment was critical to safely operate in the closed-in areas without damaging the existing structure,” said Jaime Monk, Sehlhorst’s Preconstruction Manager.
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Once they completed interior demolition, Sehlhorst brought in a Caterpillar 352 High-Reach Demolition Excavator, weighing over 100,000 pounds, to demolish the floor slabs, then the adjacent beams and columns floor by floor.
Sehlhorst began selective demolition in late February 2025 and performed the first crane pick in early April. They expect to complete demolition work in August 2025. After that, construction of Grant Medical Center’s new pavilion will begin, with a scheduled completion date for the $400 million project in mid-2028.
The entire project progresses in phases to accommodate the limited footprint and ongoing hospital operations. Before Sehlhorst began demolition, General Contractor Messer Construction Co. built a new, four-story parking garage and two-story medical office building to relocate services from the first floor of the 6th Street Blue parking garage. Once finished, Grant Medical Center’s new seven-story tower will feature a trauma center, emergency department, and critical care pavilion, adding 160 private beds as well as two levels of below-grade parking.
“OhioHealth is committed to downtown Columbus and is choosing to stay, commit, partner, and invest in the area for the long term,” said Jean Halpin, President of Grant Medical Center, in a press release for the opening of the new Grant Family Medicine facility. “It’s projected that central Ohio’s population will exceed three million by 2050. Grant’s transformation, starting with primary care and moving on to trauma and critical care, will allow us to support the exponentially growing population.”
