CHICAGO – Cook County, Illinois has plans for both old and new county hospital buildings.
Board of Commissioners President Toni Preckwinkle will introduce plans next week for a new $118 million bond-funded addition to its current hospital campus.
At the same time, she will bring forward plans for a privately financed $600 million redevelopment of its nearby, long-shuttered historic former county hospital building.
The projects go before the board April 13 and will be reviewed by the board's Finance Committee.
The new nine-story, 282,000-square foot Central Campus Health Center would serve as an outpatient facility next to the county's main John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital in Chicago. It would replace services now offered in three aging buildings the county said are outdated and inefficient.
Construction costs total about $108 million with another $10 million going to cover the cost of consultants, legal fees, contingencies and financial analysis. The funding would be included in county's capital budget.
"Building this new ambulatory care facility is more than replacing old buildings," Preckwinkle said in a statement. "It is a transformative centerpiece for system-wide operational and programmatic reform" that reflects national health system trends focusing on less costly outpatient care to avoid more costly hospital stays.
The county hopes to lower its health system's operating costs and save on costly capital repairs.
The system experiences more than 550,000 clinical visits annually on its central campus, just west of downtown Chicago.
Deferred maintenance needs on the three buildings that would be replaced had previously been tagged at up to $128 million.
The county hopes to break ground in early 2017 – pending county board and state regulatory approval – and to complete the building in mid-2018.
The former Cook County Hospital building, on the same block as the Stroger Hospital and shuttered for more than a decade, would see new life under the private development proposal going before the commissioners.
The plan would transform century old structure into a mixed-use development without any county capital investment or subsidies, officials said.
The project encompasses multiple phases that also include development of adjacent land. It calls for a hotel, residential housing, retail, and new conference and office space, parking, open space, and research facilities.
While past efforts at spurring redevelopment have fallen through since the hospital was shuttered to make way for the Stroger Hospital, supporters believe the new plan is viable given the private partners.
Under the redevelopment and 99-year land lease agreement the board will consider, the consortium selected to manage the project -- Civic Health Development Group – would pay the county $2 million in annual rent.
The long-term blueprint calls for the project to be completed in phases that could take up to 15 years. The board must sign off on the redevelopment agreement.
Reconstruction of the old hospital would begin in 2017. It calls for the restoration of the hospital's Beaux Arts façade.
"We are ecstatic that the county's leadership has found a viable means to save the historic building and at the same time inspire a transformational redevelopment for the city's near West Side," Bonnie McDonald, president of Landmarks Illinois, said in the county's press release.
The county chose CHDG from seven development teams that made the final cut after a request-for-proposals process.
Members of the group include MB Real Estate Services, Inc.; Walsh Investors LLC; Plenary Group USA Ltd.; and Granite Companies LLC.
