U. of C. cancer center to be bigger and cost more than original proposal, but with fewer beds

University of Chicago Medicine's planned cancer care, prevention and research hospital is to be 6.5% bigger and $152 million more expensive than was proposed a year ago.

The plan now is for an $815 million, 575,000-square-foot facility that can accommodate further expansion, but with fewer beds than originally planned a year ago: 80 instead of 128. 

The increased price tag and decreased number of beds are a result of inflation.

It will, however, have seven floors instead of the original five. Its ground floor is to be a hub for cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment, with infusion bays and a breast cancer center. 

There are to be 64 medical-surgical beds and 16 intensive-care beds, 90 examination rooms and a cancer-imaging suite with MRIs, CT scanners, ultrasounds and other technologies. Health care delivered across five buildings at the network's Hyde Park campus is to be consolidated in the building on 57th Street between Maryland and Drexel avenues.

The redesign changes after 10 months of work with the network's Community Advisory Council and other community leaders, 200,000 surveys administered in person and over social media and newsletters, a telephone poll and town hall meetings.

“We will be building a model for groundbreaking cancer care and prevention — established on the principles of access, equity, dignity and innovation — right here on the South Side of Chicago,” said Dr. Mark Anderson, U. of C. executive vice president for medical affairs. 

“With our long history of achievements in cancer and the great benefit of being interconnected with the University of Chicago, our new cancer facility will provide fertile ground for high-impact research so that we can tackle cancer’s toughest challenges, dramatically shorten the drug-development timeline, deliver the care that the community needs and save more lives.”

Cancer is the second-leading cause of death on the South Side, where residents are dying of the disease at a rate twice the national average.

The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board approved the hospital's master design permit last March. UChicago Medicine submitted a Certificate of Need application to the state this month; written comments can be submitted on it until June 7.

The university says at least 41% of contract dollars are to be awarded to minority- and women-owned firms and that construction, which is to begin this year pending state approval, will generate around 500 jobs. 

The hospital's planned opening is in 2027.