New CareSource office tower strengthens core of city
CareSource, the fast-growing nonprofit health insurer based downtown, is planning to build a 250,000-square-foot, seven-story office tower at the corner of Jefferson and First streets near its headquarters at
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Construction on the office tower, to be called CareSource Center City, is slated for early next year, and the project is expected to be completed in 2019, company officials said.
"More than 10 years ago, we took a bold step in the height of the economic recession and invested in
Representatives from the
"When CareSource grows,
CareSource -- primarily a
The new building will be in such close proximity to the CareSource headquarters and the
The new building would expand the company's downtown office footprint to about 600,000 square feet that it currently occupies. CareSource leases most of the office space, except for the headquarters building, which it owns. But the company plans to let the leases expire and redistribute an undetermined number of staff from those downtown offices to the new building, which will better facilitate the company's long-term growth plans, according to Morris.
"We have managed our space needs by renovating existing locations in downtown," she said. "But as we forecast for the future, our experience and analysis has proven that it is more cost efficient to own and operate a new building than to lease and renovate existing space."
CareSource and the
In addition to receiving
CareSource declined to elaborate on the details until the project is finalized, which is contingent on tax-credit financing and other incentives from state and local authorities, officials said. Still, Morris said she didn't anticipate any roadblocks preventing the project from moving forward.
The new building would be the first high-rise office building to open downtown since CareSource's headquarters opened in 2008 with the help of the
The price-tag for the new office building has yet to be determined, but CareSource officials said the investment is sorely needed to accommodate the explosive growth in its business operations and employment.
Over the past five years, company-wide employment has grown from 1,200 to 3,100 in four states -- including 860 new employees added in the past year alone -- while membership in its health plans has grown to more than 1.5 million.
Much of the company's growth can be attributed to its roll-out of private health plans through federal Health Insurance Marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act, and the expansion of
And the company is showing no signs of slowing down, projecting membership in its CareSource-brand marketplace plans to grow by 50,000 to 75,000 next year, on top of 124,000 current enrollees in
Those figures don't include thousands of new
CareSource has also benefited from the implementation of the MyCare Ohio program, and the launch of
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