Rush University Medical Center has submitted plans to construct an 11-story, 530,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art outpatient care center at the northeast corner of Ashland Avenue and Harrison Street on the near West Side of Chicago.
It will be directly across Ashland Avenue from Rush’s Tower building, which opened in 2012. The project will include an enclosed, fourth-floor walkway connecting the two buildings when it is completed in 2022.
The outpatient center will be focused primarily on cancer and neurological care and is being planned and designed around the diagnostic and treatment needs of patients, who are increasingly receiving routine and often complex medical care in physician offices.
Rush filed a certificate of need application with the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board for the project on Aug. 3. The estimated cost of the project is $473 million. Rush will finance the construction through debt financing and revenue from operations.
The construction project will include an adjacent six-story, 1,000-space parking facility for patients. Until 2017, the site was occupied by Rush University student housing, which was relocated over the past year.
The building will house outpatient clinical services including radiation therapy, infusion therapy, integrative medicine, imaging and other programs. It will also include physician offices, high-tech conference rooms, a pharmacy, retail space and food options, including a ground level with outdoor seating. It will serve as a primary site for clinical research and teaching programs of Rush University, which typically take place in physician offices, and diagnostic and treatment areas involving nurses, physicians and ancillary personnel.
With project approval, construction is scheduled to begin in spring 2019 with a supply tunnel under Ashland Avenue, with the estimated completion of the building in 2022.
“This and other outpatient sites will help us improve the health of those who have come to trust Rush for their health care needs,” said Michael Dandorph, president of the Rush System and Rush University Medical Center. “We want to make it as convenient as possible for people living and working throughout the Chicago area to see their Rush affiliated health care providers.”
Rush has grown its outpatient care locations over the past several years, including opening Rush River North two years ago and Rush Specialty Care Oak Park last fall. “We are committed to continue expanding our reach into more communities with the opening of Rush South Loop, 1411 S. Michigan Ave., in October 2018, and the Rush Oak Brook Outpatient Center in 2019,” said Dr. Anthony Perry, vice president, Ambulatory Transformation. “We anticipate a 20 percent growth in outpatient volume from opening Rush River North to the opening of Rush Oak Brook in 2019,” he said.
“Our success in designing, building and operating these new care sites goes well beyond bringing Rush services to the community,” Perry said. “These facilities also provide us with an opportunity to learn more innovative ways to provide even better care to our patients. Each new facility gives us information and a great advantage as we proceed with the design of the new ambulatory building on the Rush campus.”
Rush South Loop
In October, a 40,000-square-foot outpatient health center will open within a new 15-story, mixed-used residential building at 1411 S. Michigan Ave. The center will include primary and special care providers, full imaging capabilities and 60 exam rooms.
Rush Oak Brook Outpatient Center
The center will open in December and include a state-of-the-art outpatient surgery center, 50 exam rooms, laboratory and imaging. The 100,000-square-foot facility is a joint venture with Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush. Numerous medical specialties will be represented.
Rush River North
The outpatient center was opened in April 2017, at the Grand Plaza apartment building at 539 N. Dearborn St.
Physicians from Rush currently practice at a number of other locations throughout the Chicago area, including the following:
- Chicago, Lakeview: Rush Primary Care, 1300 W. Belmont Ave.
- Chicago, Loop: Rush University Internal Medicine, 230 W. Monroe St.
- Chicago, Lincoln Park: Rush University Physicians at Lincoln Park, 2835 N. Sheffield St.
- Oak Park: Rush Medical Office Building, 610 S. Maple Ave.
- Lisle: DuPage Medical Group (cancer specialists), 430 Warrenville Road
- Worth: University Family Physicians Southwest, 7000 W. 111th St.
About Rush
Rush is an academic health system whose mission is to improve the health of the patients and the diverse communities it serves with nationally recognized health care, education, research and a commitment to community partnerships. The Rush system comprises Rush University Medical Center, Rush University, Rush-Copley Medical Center and Rush Oak Park Hospital, as well as numerous outpatient care facilities. Rush University, with more than 2,500 students, is a health sciences university that comprises Rush Medical College, the College of Nursing, the College of Health Sciences and the Graduate College.