TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - Walking through the new downtown facilities of ProMedica, it is awe-inspiring. It is a melting pot of Toledo's historical past, vibrant present and bright future.
Now home to some 460 ProMedica employees, the headquarters somehow retains its openness. Employers are encouraged to get out of their offices and interact with each other.
"I think the biggest thing, the nicest thing, I've talked with people i haven't seen in years," said CEO Randy Oostra.
The idea to move downtown sprouted some time ago, when ProMedica was weighing plans to relocate their headquarters.
"The idea was maybe we should go to a hospital campus, that was our first drive because that's what it's about, taking care of patients," Oostra said. "Then it was like, 'Let's look at the suburbs,' because we had land at arrowhead. So we looked at that. And then there was just this gnawing idea that I think many people had like, 'Wouldn't it be a great thing to do, to go downtown."
Each meticulous part of the design and architecture has a purpose, including the size of the small offices.
"Every office is the same. Very, very small," Oostra said. "Again, it's like get out of your office. Get out here. Talk to people."
There's history everywhere in the new headquarters, including a riverfront look at what the refurbished steam plant once looked like. While much of the building has changed radically with the renovations, they tried to keep as much of the original building as possible.
One notable feature is a long hallway outlining and preserving Toledo's rich history. Oostra says he hopes teachers take their students through the hallway when they visit the Imagination Station to help pass history down to the future.
One thing you will not see is any tribute to ProMedica. Oostra says the project does not belong to ProMedica, rather the city of Toledo.
"It really isn't a ProMedica story," Oostra said. "It's kind of a community story."
Oostra won't let ProMedica take a solo bow for the excitement its relocation is generating. Instead he prefers to call the $60 million move as a piece to a much larger puzzle.
"Especially when you connect what we're doing with our piece here, with what Owens Corning has done, what's going to be done with the convention center, you go around the corner to Hensville, and you go to the warehouse district and you just go through the different neighborhoods, I think [...] it's a big puzzle," Oostra said. "And we're starting to fill in other pieces."
