{"id":860901,"date":"2026-06-11T23:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T23:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/860901\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T23:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T23:12:15","slug":"northwestern-hospital-makes-the-case-for-new-cancer-complex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/860901\/","title":{"rendered":"Northwestern Hospital makes the case for new cancer complex"},"content":{"rendered":"

Northwestern Memorial Hospital officials met with Streeterville residents Wednesday night and said they have worked to address concerns about the hospital\u2019s proposal to build a 1.2 million-square-foot tower on a vacant lot.<\/p>\n

Northwestern plans to start excavating the site later this year but still needs several state and city approvals before launching construction, most likely in 2027. The community\u2019s support helps clear the way for the 23-story building, where the hospital will care for cancer patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t had any community feedback saying please don\u2019t build this building,\u201d said Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, who hosted the meeting along with Streeterville Organization of Active Residents. \u201cIt\u2019s been a very strong response from Streeterville residents who have said, \u2018We are neighbors of this healthcare campus.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

At a community meeting last summer<\/a>, many neighbors mourned the impending loss of the vacant lot, just across the street from Northwestern Memorial\u2019s Feinberg Pavilion and bordered by Fairbanks Court, Huron Street, McClurg Court and Erie Street. The tree-lined parcel of more than 3 acres, once home to the now-demolished Lakeside VA hospital, is one of the neighborhood\u2019s few open and green spaces.<\/p>\n

Hospital officials said the original plan was to excavate the entire site. But after last summer\u2019s meeting they decided to preserve the eastern third, which is adjacent to 680 North Lake Shore Drive, a residential and medical office building.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe heard loud and clear that the community wanted this to remain free and clear as green space,\u201d said Charles Cloutier, Northwestern Medicine\u2019s project vice president for planning and construction. \u201cWe want to be good neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NorthwesternNorthwestern is planning a 23-story building in Streeterville where the hospital will care for cancer patients. Excavation of the site is expected to start later this year. (Northwestern Medicine)<\/p>\n

Cloutier said the hospital also tried to address concerns about possible traffic congestion around the new cancer center. Drivers dropping off patients or visitors will be able to access the four-story underground parking facility without going back out on the street. The hospital also reached an agreement with the Chicago Department of Transportation to make exiting the facility easier by allowing traffic on a portion of Huron Street to go both ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to force all the traffic from the building onto Fairbanks,\u201d Cloutier said. \u201cThe (traffic from the) building is only going to add a few seconds to getting through these intersections even at peak times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Northwestern also plans to use fritted glass on the building\u2019s lower floors to reduce deadly bird strikes, he added. Environmental advocates<\/a> frequently press Chicago property owners to include this feature, especially for lakefront buildings likely to attract migratory birds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lived through a lot of high-rises going up,\u201d said a longtime resident of 680 North Lake Shore Drive. \u201cI appreciate you took a lot of the neighborhood feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project is part of a multiyear campus transformation, Cloutier said. The hospital also plans to add 11 new operating rooms and dozens of inpatient beds to other campus buildings by 2028. It will complete the new tower by 2031 and reserve it mostly for cancer patients, who now receive treatment in numerous buildings across Streeterville.<\/p>\n

The new building will include skybridges over Fairbanks Court and Erie Street connecting it to the neighboring Feinberg Pavilion and the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, along with several rooftop gardens.<\/p>\n

Cloutier warned neighbors that before starting construction, excavators will need to dig out the old foundation of the Lakeside VA. It\u2019s a big job and could take 12 months, but the hospital will closely monitor the noise and dust coming from the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to be upfront, we\u2019re going to be working a lot of Saturdays,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hopkins said he plans to hold more community meetings as the project moves forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is still an opportunity to get your hands in this,\u201d he said. \u201cEspecially the people in 680 (North Lake Shore Drive), because it\u2019s in your backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Northwestern Memorial Hospital officials met with Streeterville residents Wednesday night and said they have worked to address concerns…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":860902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[351168,960,351169,1141,5386,1818,37362,58896,39981,351167],"class_list":["post-860901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-ald-brian-hopkins","tag-chicago","tag-feinberg-pavilion","tag-health-care","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-northwestern-medicine","tag-northwestern-memorial-hospital","tag-streeterville","tag-streeterville-organization-of-active-residents"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116734012158033503","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}