Northwestern Medicine outlines plan for new hospital tower

Northwestern Medicine presented their preliminary plan for a new hospital tower at 327 E. Huron in their Streeterville campus to the local community last night. Bounded by E. Huron St to the north, N. McClurg Ct to the east, E. Erie St to the south, and N. Fairbanks Ct to the west, the property was formerly home to the Lakeside Veterans Affairs Hospital tower which was demolished in 2009. The site has sat vacant since the hospital building was demolished.

The investment in the new hospital building comes as Northwestern Medicine has the highest utilization of top hospitals in the market and largest share of high acuity care, while providing a larger portion of community care compared to other top USNWR hospitals. The hospital needs to invest in high acuity speciality care to address overcrowding and capacity issues.

With Perkins&Will selected as the architect leading the design, the new construction is expected to take shape as a 1.2 million square foot hospital tower expected to rise roughly as high as the Lavin Pavilion nearby which stands 385 feet tall. 

The building will consolidate most oncology services while providing 226-314 new inpatient beds, five operating rooms, an imaging suite, ambulatory clinics, infusion clinics, lab and pharmacy spaces, support spaces, a ground floor retail presence, and shell space for future development. 

While early in the design process, the new tower will occupy the western two thirds of the site while the eastern one third will be subject to future development. The building’s massing sets back from the property line to provide relief at the ground floor with a small public plaza at the corner of N. Fairbanks Ct and E. Erie St. 

The building is designed with a podium and tower expression with imaging, surgery, and related uses in the podium with inpatient beds and clinics in the tower. The shape of the building has been crafted to take advantage of the great views of both Lake Michigan and the city skyline from the site.

With the initial programming phase complete, the Certificate of Need application has been submitted to the state and the project’s schematic design phase will soon be kicking off. Northwestern Medicine will need to go through the city’s Planned Development zoning process to secure approval for the project. 

The three-story basement from the former Lakeside Veterans Affairs Hospital tower still exists underground, so Northwestern Medicine plans to submit for a demolition permit to excavate and remove the underground structure in late 2026. If approved by the city, the new hospital tower is expected to begin new construction in Spring 2027 and wrap up in 2031. Power Construction and joint venture partner UJAMAA Construction will lead the construction.