Advocate Health Care announces plans for $300 million hospital on Chicago's South Side
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A $1 billion investment was announced Tuesday to improve health and wellness on Chicago's South Side—with a new lakefront hospital and 10 care locations.
Mayor Brandon Johnson was present for the announcement by Advocate Health Care on Tuesday.
"Citizens on the South Side of Chicago by and large live 30 years less than their counterparts a few miles north on the North Side of the city—simply because of where they live," said Dia Nichols, president of Advocate Health Care, "simply because of their ZIP code."
In a massive effort to change that statistic, a new hospital is coming to a 23-acre site in the South Chicago neighborhood just off the lake near Rainbow Beach—which has become woods in the 30 years since US Steel vacated it.
Advocate Health on Monday announced a $300 million new hospital with 52 beds, an emergency room with 16 bays, and over 1,000 new jobs created over the three years.
But the new hospital is just one part of the $1 billion rollout.
An even larger investment of $500 million is going toward 10 new outpatient facilities throughout the South Side that will add 85,000 health care appointments each year—with dynamic locations.
"These sites will serve the whole family," said Dr. Michelle Blakely, president of Advocate Trinity Hospital. "They will be located in churches, community centers, and more."
The first of the care centers will open early next year at the South Side YMCA, 6330 S. Stony Island Ave., in a watershed moment to combat the life-expectancy disparity between the city's North and South sides.
"This $1 billion investment by Advocate is a statement—and I don't mean this in a political sense, but in a literal sense—it demonstrates that our lives matter," said Illinois state Rep. Curtis J. Tarver II (D-Chicago). "They matter."
Additional community health locations will open in churches and community centers after the new year.
The hospital going up at the old US Steel site will replace the 115-year-old Advocate Trinity Hospital on 93rd Street. Advocate Trinity will remain open until the new hospital opens its doors.