Cincinnati Children’s breaks ground on medical building in NKY and announces significant donation

First-of-its-kind location will feature primary care, specialty clinics

Friday, November 17, 2023

Cincinnati Children’s broke ground Friday, Nov. 17, for a building that will feature a large primary care practice plus specialty medical and surgical clinics in the Boone County city of Union, KY.

To be called the Cincinnati Children’s Brandon and Kelly Janszen Union KY Building, it will be named in honor of a Northern Kentucky couple who have made the lead donation to help establish the new location, said Steve Davis, MD, the health system’s president and chief executive officer. The amount wasn’t disclosed.

“The children of Northern Kentucky will be able to receive world-class healthcare even closer to their homes at the Union location thanks to the generous support of Brandon and Kelly Janszen,” Davis said. “This significant donation from the Janszens will help us change the outcome together.”

Cincinnati Children’s has provided medical care to a niece of the Janszens, 16-year-old Payton, and the couple said they wanted to show their appreciation for that as well as to help make it possible for other local families to see providers from the nation’s No. 1-ranked pediatric health system as close to their homes as possible.

The Janszens and Payton joined Davis at the groundbreaking ceremony at 2015 Children’s Way, a new street in the Union Promenade mixed-use development under construction on U.S. 42. The one-story building will be visible from the highway’s intersection with Sweet Harmony Lane.

“This is such a big deal for Union,” Kelly Janszen said of Cincinnati Children’s plans for a medical building in the community. “It really is monumental.”

The Janszens, who are the parents of two grown boys, have been supporters of Cincinnati Children’s since 2009. The couple was excited about partnering with the health system to expand care in Northern Kentucky.

“We have so many friends who have children treated at Cincinnati Children’s, whether it’s for a stitch or something major, and we started thinking it could be our future grandchildren or niece’s children who may be treated at the Union location one day,” Kelly Janszen said. “Philanthropy is important to Brandon’s family and to my family, and we feel blessed to be able to do this. Brandon and I talked it over and decided to make this donation public in hopes of inspiring other families to do likewise.”

Brandon Janszen added: “We live in Union, and the commitment that we’re putting forward here demonstrates we’re vested in the Northern Kentucky community. We hope that others will step up, too.”

Cincinnati Children’s expects to see the first patients at the location in Spring 2025.

Specialty clinics planned for the Cincinnati Children’s Brandon and Kelly Janszen Union KY Building include:

• Adolescent Medicine
• Dermatology
• Diabetes
• Gynecology
• Human genetics
• Neonatology complex care
• Pediatric surgery consultation
• Physical medicine and rehabilitation
• Rheumatology

The Union, KY, location will also feature important complements to primary care, including integrated behavioral health counselors, a laboratory and radiology services.

The combination of pediatric primary and specialty care will make the location the first of its kind in Northern Kentucky for Cincinnati Children’s. The site will add to services that Cincinnati Children’s already provides in Northern Kentucky, which include physician practices.

Employees working there will include physicians, advanced practice providers, registered nurses, mental health counselors, medical assistants and support staff. The precise number of employees has yet to be determined.

The Cincinnati Children’s Brandon and Kelly Janszen Union KY Building will encompass 27,000 square feet. Site design will enable expansion to accommodate future growth.

Pepper Construction is the construction manager, and GBBN Architects oversees design. Other firms working on the project include: Bayer Becker as civil engineer and landscape architect, Schaefer Engineering for structural engineering, Heapy Engineering for mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection, Walsh Consulting Group for medical equipment planning, RCF Group as furniture consultant, and Kolar Design as graphic, art and wayfinding consultant.

Total initial investment by Cincinnati Children’s is expected to top $22.5 million, which includes the purchase of nearly 6.4 acres from the developers of Union Promenade.