Demo of MRI Center Kicking Off $150M Hospital Development

Crews are busy setting up barriers and prepping for the former Chicago Northside MRI Center’s demolition, a move that will kick off St. Joseph Hospital’s new $150 million development.

A representative with Resurrection Health Care confirmed the building will be leveled sometime next week. Sitting at 2818 N. Sheridan Road, they’re still waiting for ComEd to shut down the power at the building.

Although a parking lot is replacing the building, the real action is happening across the street where crews will soon construct a 205,000-square-foot addition to the hospital. In March the hospital said it planned to break ground on the project in July, and they are clearly still on schedule.

An additional 350 parking spaces will be added during construction, with an expectation of completing the new Presence Center for Advanced Care in 2015. Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the complex on June 28.

The nine-story building will house outpatient services like a cancer center and rehabilitation services, as well as parking and physician offices. Surf Street will also be reconfigured to become a two-way street to boost traffic flow.

“The project is responding to community need and verified physician interest,” the hospital said in a statement in March. “Presence Saint Joseph recently completed a master planning and feasibility process, and in 2006, zoning approval was granted for this project. It has the full support of Alderman Tom Tunney.”

The new Center for Advanced Care didn’t please neighbors, however, who complained the land was zoned for residential towers, not a hospital expansion. A lawsuit over the project went all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court where they declined to hear the case, followed by state Appellate Panel that eventually ruled in favor of the hospital.