Announcing plans for a $427 million expansion, the University of Illinois at Chicago Hospital joined other Chicago-area hospitals that are planning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to replace or upgrade their current facilities.
A specific financing plan was not announced to pay for the preliminary expansion blueprint. The expansion would include the construction of a nine-story building across the street from the University’s current medical center on the city’s near West Side, which houses what is known as the Chicago Medical District because it is home to three hospitals and other health-related facilities.
Hospital officials told members of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees at a meeting last week that the expansion was needed to increase the number of hospital beds and improve facilities. The university hospital first proposed an expansion two years ago. The revised plan remains in the early planning stages and the hospital still needs to hire a design firm to help with its application for a certificate of need from the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board.
A handful of Chicago-area hospitals are embarking on major expansion or replacement projects totaling several billion dollars. Children’s Memorial Hospital last month announced plans for a new $750 million hospital. Others include Rush University Medical Center, the University of Chicago Hospitals, and Northwestern Hospital, which is building a new women’s hospital.
Also at the board meeting, the University of Illinois board approved a $116 million renovation of the 80-year-old football stadium at the school’s main campus in Urbana-Champaign. The university plans a debt issue to finance the stadium renovations and would repay the debt with revenue generated by naming rights, a ticket surcharge, and the sales of premium seats.
