Rendering of Advocate Hospital at current Trinity Hospital site.
Announcement is one of the largest community-focused health care investments in the nation
A new $300 million hospital will be built, replacing Trinity Hospital in Calumet Heights. It is part of Advocate Health’s comprehensive $1 billion investment package that aims to boost healthcare services to communities on Chicago’s South Side.
The company also plans to spend $725 million on new outpatient clinics and community health programs that will address longstanding health care needs on the South Side.
The new facility that will replace Trinity Hospital will be a $300 million, 52-bed hospital on 23 acres on the former U.S. Steel South Works site, between Brandon Avenue to the west, DuSable Lake Shore Drive to the north and east and 81st Street to the south.
It will be part of the new Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, a planned first-of-its kind medical and scientific technology complex that will focus on advanced medical research by government agencies, universities and colleges, labs and research institutions, and businesses.
Developer Related Midwest is workworking with Advocate to develop the new hospital on the north side of the park.
Advocate hopes to break ground on the new hospital late next year; it is expected to open in 2029.
Advocate Health officials said the new hospital will offer “expanded emergency services” compared to Trinity, as well as surgery, an intensive care unit, diagnostic testing and imaging, dialysis and more, officials said. Advocate officials said the dramatic reduction in beds comes amid an “excess of hospital beds on the South Side.” However, Advocate Health officials said the new hospital will have the potential to expand if needed.
The new hospital will replace the 115-year-old Trinity Hospital, a 263-bed hospital that will continue serving patients until the new hospital opens. Trinity Hospital, located at 2320 E. 93rd Street, will then be demolished and Advocate will “create green space” on the site.
The announcement was made Tuesday, December 17 at Advocate’s Imani Village outpatient clinic on the Southeast Side. Reverend Otis Moss III, and Mayor Brandon Johnson joined Advocate health officials during the press conference.
“We’re going to build a new model of care that is designed to prevent and better manage those common conditions that contribute to those shorter life expectancies,” Advocate’s President Dia Nichols said Tuesday. Nichols said it will be “A new model that keeps people out of the hospital, that meets them upstream before they become patients in the hospital.”
As part of its $1 billion project, Advocate Health plans to open 10 new outpatient centers with the first opening “in the coming months” at the South Side YMCA, 6330 S. Stony Island Avenue in Woodlawn.
The expanded outpatient services and community health programs are estimated to cost Advocate Health more than $700 million. The company will also spend $25 million on workforce development and hiring as it seeks to employ more than 1,000 new employees in the coming years, officials said.
The new outpatient sites will provide health services and vaccines to treat the flu or the common cold. Advocate Health officials hope the funding will create 85,000 more doctor appointments each year across all South Side sites.
Advocate will also offer more OB-GYN services and 5,000 more annual appointments, create a free prescription program for qualifying patients and deploy a mobile medicine vehicle that will provide primary care services throughout the community.
Advocate Health will also expand its Imani Village Outpatient Clinic, 901 E. 95th St. in Pullman, to host more doctors and services while decreasing wait times.
The health care company will also expand prescription, food delivery and programs that aim to manage chronic disease and address the “social factors that affect health.”
“The new hospital represents far more than a building — it’s a significant investment in the 7th Ward and a powerful catalyst for revitalization,” Alderman Greg Mitchell (7th) said in a statement. “It will bring much needed access to health care, create jobs and stimulate economic growth, laying the foundation for further investments.”
Advocate will host a series of community meetings on the hospital project next month:
6 p.m. Jan. 14 at the South Side YMCA, 6330 S. Stony Island Ave. in Woodlawn.
10 a.m. Jan. 15 at Compassion Baptist Church, 2650 E. 95th St. in Calumet Heights.
1 p.m. Jan. 15 at Vodak Library, 3710 E. 106th St. on the East Side.
10 a.m. Jan. 22 at Compassion Baptist Church.
1 p.m. Jan. 22 at Vodak Library.