Northwestern Medicine is looking at vacant property in Bronzeville's Grand Boulevard community for a new facility that will bring outpatient care to Chicago's South Side. The proposed 100,000 square foot building would occupy the land at the southwest corner of East 48th Street and South Cottage Grove Avenue.
According to Urbanize Chicago, this building will offer a wide variety of healthcare services including:
- Immediate care
- Primary care
- Cardiology
- X-rays
- Mammogram
- OB ultrasound
- Dermatology
- Behavioral/mental health
- Cancer Center
The project would create 1,000 construction jobs over two years as well as 100 permanent jobs. The plan also includes 5,000 square feet of retail space for local businesses and 10,000 square feet of new community space.
Brook Architecture and Lamar Johnson Collaborative are in the process of designing the Bronzeville facility so no detailed renderings are available at this time. There will be a four-story Medical Office Building on the north end of the site and an above-ground garage with 250 parking spaces to the south.
"This massing can change based on the feedback that we receive. The parking component will look like the rest of the building and not an exposed concrete structure on the side of the outpatient care building. We have done this successfully in several other projects and plan to do it here because it is also our goal for an aesthetically pleasing project."
Director of Planning & Construction with Northwestern Medicine | Charles Cloutier
Northwestern has acquired the parcel at the southwest corner of Cottage Grove and 48th Street and will soon close on a second piece of privately-owned land. The development team will also need to acquire a middle portion of land from the city of Chicago, and that process is just beginning, according to Northwestern's Gina Weldy.
The design, land acquisition, zoning, and permitting process is expected to take between 12 and 18 months to complete. Once the facility does break ground, construction will take another 18 months, according to Cloutier.
Block Club Chicago states that many Bronzeville residents travel outside their neighborhood to other Northwestern Medicine facilities for care and also receive in-patient care daily. Bringing a clinic closer to home would alleviate strain on patients who wouldn't be forced to trek to the Gold Coast for appointments.
Money for the project would come from Northwestern Medicine's coffers.
The building's design would be similar to the proposed sites in Irving Park and Lincoln Square. Northwestern Medicine recently began construction on a small outpatient facility in Chicago's Lincoln Square community. The healthcare provider will also be breaking ground soon on a 150,000 square foot project in Old Irving Park within the next few weeks.