The University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC) reached a preliminary agreement with the Village of Orland Park earlier this month to build a $61-million facility in the nearby suburb that would be the hospital’s largest off-site clinic.
The UCMC and town officials in Orland Park, a suburb approximately 45 minutes southwest of Hyde Park, agreed to build the 120,000-square-foot facility in a Letter of Intent that was approved by the village on May 15. In a statement, the UCMC said that the clinic will provide radiation oncology and orthopedics and could potentially offer gastroenterology, cardiology, pediatrics, women’s health services, and surgical consulting. The site will also have a 580-space parking structure, a retail pharmacy and “full diagnostic imaging capability onsite for MRIs, CT scans, ultrasounds and mammography,” according to the statement.
In an e-mail, a UCMC spokesperson said that the majority of the hospital’s patients travel long distances to receive specialized care, and that the new facility is part of a larger strategy to “meet the needs of patients who are referred to us and to expand in regions identified as needing specialized services because of a growing population.”
“Cancer treatment, orthopedic and other health services increasingly are moving to an outpatient setting, particularly with the onset of the Affordable Care Act. The proposed Orland Park outpatient facility, which is in a central location for a region that is growing, would be able to provide many of those needed services,” the spokesperson said.
Under the proposed agreement, the University will lease 3.48 acres of public land from the village for 25 years, and then will assume ownership of the land after the lease ends. According to the UCMC statement, the clinic will create more than 300 jobs and bring Orland Park $25 million in revenue over the 25-year lease. The hospital will contribute $58 million towards the facility, but will acquire a retail partner to finance the additional $3 million.
The UCMC has numerous off-site clinics in Chicago and in the surrounding suburbs, including seven clinics in the South Side. Officials from the UCMC hope that the hospital will open by 2016.
