Nationwide Children's Buys $7.6M East Main Street Block, No Plans Yet

Nationwide Children's Hospital paid $7.6 million for a 3.62-acre block on East Main Street in Columbus's Near East Side on August 7, 2026, according to Franklin County property records. The hospital has not announced specific plans for the site, which sits just north of the interstate, adjacent to its growing main campus.

What Was Purchased

The block at 818 E. Main Street sits on the south side of East Main between South 17th and South 18th streets, extending south to East Mound Street. The 3.62-acre parcel was previously owned by the Douglas Lula Foundation, a Columbus nonprofit associated with James "Buster" Douglas — the Columbus native who upset Mike Tyson for the world heavyweight boxing title in 1990. Turner Construction Company had been leasing the site and using it for surface parking.

Nationwide Children's confirmed the acquisition in a brief statement but disclosed no specific development. "Acquiring the property allows Nationwide Children's to plan thoughtfully for both the short-term and long-term future of a site that is now adjacent to our growing campus," a hospital spokesperson said, declining to elaborate on timing or intended use.

At $7.6 million for 3.62 acres, the price works out to roughly $2.1 million per acre — a figure consistent with institutional land-banking on the Near East Side, where commercial land has traded between $500,000 and $4 million per acre over the past five years depending on improvements and proximity to anchor institutions.

Why This Is a New Threshold for the Hospital's Footprint

The East Main Street acquisition puts a Nationwide Children's–owned parcel on the north side of the interstate, in contrast to the hospital's main campus and its other Near East Side facilities. The hospital's main campus at 700 Children's Drive sits south of I-70, as do the hospital's office buildings and research facilities on the Near East Side that have come online over the past decade.

The hospital's expansion activity has been sustained. In May 2025 it broke ground on a 14-story, 850,000-square-foot acute-care tower described as the largest single investment in Nationwide Children's history, at a cost of approximately $1.27 billion. That tower adds more than 430 beds — including an expanded neonatal intensive care unit, new surgical suites, and oncology services — and is expected to open in 2028. The City of Columbus approved an updated tax-incentive agreement in July 2025 extending the hospital's income-tax breaks through 2039 in exchange for adding 7,500 jobs over 15 years as part of its campus expansion plan.

The East Main Street block purchase follows a pattern of quiet pre-announcement land acquisition that healthcare systems typically use before committing to a specific program. Whether the intended use is clinical space, employee support facilities, housing, research, or a combination is not publicly known.

The BRT Corridor Factor

The block sits directly along COTA's planned LinkUS East Main Street Bus Rapid Transit corridor, a $340 million project projected to deliver dedicated BRT service along East Main Street around 2029. The BRT line is intended to run from downtown Columbus east toward the Bexley border, with dedicated lanes, stations, and frequent service that would substantially improve transit access along the corridor.

For a major employer and healthcare institution, high-frequency transit access carries operational weight: BRT proximity can improve employee recruitment and patient transportation options, factors that influence where hospitals locate clinical facilities and support services. The East Main Street block sits along the planned corridor, within the stretch of East Main Street the LinkUS project is designed to serve.

Neither COTA nor Nationwide Children's has announced any coordination between the BRT station design process and the hospital's plans for the acquired block.

Near East Side Development Context

The Near East Side has become one of Columbus's most active development submarkets, partly because of Nationwide Children's own expansion and partly because OHFA and City of Columbus capital have followed the hospital's footprint into the neighborhood.

Other projects within roughly a half-mile of the new acquisition show the same pattern. Kingsley + Co. received a 2026 Low Income Housing Tax Credit reservation from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency for Mercy on Main, a 65-unit affordable housing development one block west on East Main Street, backed by $3.25 million in City of Columbus HOME funds. Northstar Realty LLC and Schiff Capital Group began demolition in May 2026 for a 170-unit mixed-use development at 475 East Livingston Avenue, directly across from the hospital's main campus. Columbus State Community College and Woda Cooper Companies broke ground in August 2026 on a $51 million, 166-unit affordable housing complex two blocks northwest in the Discovery District.

Each of these projects draws demand, at least in part, from the worker and patient volumes generated by Nationwide Children's existing campus.

What to Watch

As of publication, Nationwide Children's has not filed a permit application, rezoning request, or development plan for the site with the City of Columbus Department of Building and Zoning Services. No timeline for any announcement has been shared publicly.

The key signals to monitor: permit filings in Columbus's public building permit database, any rezoning application submitted to the City of Columbus Development Commission, a hospital press release, or a reference in Nationwide Children's next annual report. The LinkUS BRT station design and placement process is still underway and may influence what Nationwide Children's eventually proposes for the site, since station locations and pedestrian access points will shape the block's connectivity and development potential.

The Douglas Lula Foundation, the prior owner, did not appear to have any announcement about its plans for the proceeds from the sale.

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*Sources: Franklin County Auditor property records (primary record); NBC4 WCMH-TV; Columbus Underground; Hoodline Columbus. The Columbus Dispatch also reported the purchase. Prior CREN coverage: Demolition Begins on Livingston Avenue Near Nationwide Children's, Columbus State Breaks Ground on Affordable Housing in the Discovery District, Columbus Olde Towne East Gets a New Affordable Housing Project on East Main.*