Work on 80-year-old Tower Replacement Begins

 

EVERGREEN PARK, Ill. — After an 18-month delay, Little Company of Mary Hospital has begun construction of a 300,000-square-foot replacement patient tower that will replace a tower built in 1929.

 

Expected to cost between $150 million and $180 million, the 300,000 square-foot wing and tower will be located on Little Company of Mary’s existing medical campus. Chicago-based Power Construction is serving as general contractor on the three-phase tower project, which is part of a three-year strategic and facility growth plan at the healthcare company.

 

Dubbed the West Pavilion, the replacement tower will house 96 private rooms for medical and surgical patients, labor and delivery units, and the Women’s Center for Life and Health – which has been in the planning stages since 2006.

 

“That’s where the whole concept for this started,” says Kevin Rehdar, vice president of clinical services and internal project manager for the expansion. “We wanted to be one of the first health care centers in the area with a section dedicated to women. The new West Pavilion will enable us to have the women’s services all in one place.”

 

Also included in the project will be a pharmacy and laboratory, administrative offices and an energy plant.

 

While the economy in early 2009 put a damper on starting construction, hospital administrators authorized construction of a parking lot expansion, and voted to move ahead with site preparation on the new building’s foundation.

 

Once the new tower is completed, the hospital’s old tower will be demolished, while the north and south pavilions will remain. LCM has plans to modernize both pavilions in the future. Completion of the project is expected in 2012.