$400 MILLION SILVER CROSS HOSPITAL REPLACEMENT PROJECT UNDERWAY

JOLIET, ILL. — A 560,000-square-foot replacement hospital for Silver Cross Hospital is underway 3 miles east of the existing campus in Joliet. The $400 million project is being constructed on a greenfield site at the intersection of U.S. Route 6 and the new Interstate 355 extension. RTKL served as the master-planner and designer for the project, which will include 289 all-private rooms in an environment that focuses on patient-centric care. In order to enhance the hospital’s care model, each of the hospital’s four wings will house 18 beds, as well as a large care center for two nursing teams, a smaller center for the third nursing team, and multiple medication and clean supply rooms. A state-of-the-art interventional platform will incorporate minimally invasive, image-guided surgery spaces into a single unit. The new building will house 11 operating rooms. The core of Silver Cross Hospital’s new design allows for long-term growth without sacrificing existing operational efficiencies. The six-story building will support the addition of two floors without disruption to operations. A bed tower can also be added in such a way that those patient rooms and the rooms in the tower currently underway could be equidistant to surgery and major diagnostic departments. Operating rooms were designed to accommodate more invasive surgeries in the future. In addition to the hospital, future plans for the campus expansion may include retail, housing, medical or recreational development. Upon completion of the replacement hospital in the fall of 2011, the existing facility will possibly be converted into an urgent care center.