MIDDLETOWN — It's official: Middletown Regional Hospital trustees have given the go-ahead to move to Interstate 75 in western Warren County.

        “Both boards said, "Let's continue to move ahead,'” John “Jack” O'Neill, a trustee on the hospital board, said Friday. The other board oversees the hospital's parent company.

        “Rebuilding on site is very difficult,” Mr. O'Neill said of the alternative. “There's not enough land.”

        The 83-year-old hospital is a complex of about a half-dozen buildings. Homes surround its 26 acres.

        In conjunction with the move, the hospital also plans to apply to the state for status as a trauma center, Mr. O'Neill said.

        “We have the third-busiest emergency room in Southwest Ohio,” the longtime trustee said.

        A couple of hurdles remain before the hospital can start packing boxes, officials say:

        • Middletown must be permitted to annex the new, 280-acre site, at Union and Greentree roads. It's in Turtlecreek Township, but township and Warren County officials have indicated they will not fight annexation.

        • State and federal authorities must agree to allow a new exit from Interstate 75 near Greentree.

        The development will include more than just a hospital. Doctors' offices are likely and health-related industry has been mentioned as a possibility.

        “The complex is just going to absolutely be tops in the nation,” former state Rep. George Terwilleger said. “The little hometown hospital has really grown up, and it will be exciting to see the new-grown adult.”

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