The University of Chicago Medical Center and Silver Cross Hospital (“UC/SCH”) agreed to explore a possible joint venture to operate a cancer center on the campus of Silver Cross’ planned replacement hospital in New Lenox, Illinois. The facility needed to meet an aggressive initial cost and operating budget and fit within the Silver Cross campus master plan.

The Solution
The parties sought a real estate partner to provide front-end design and cost options and develop and own the facility. UC/SCH selected HSA PrimeCare to plan, develop and own the cancer center facility. Throughout the pre-development stage, HSA worked closely with UC/SCH to establish project goals and objectives and provide a number of design, cost and value engineering options for the facility measuring each against the campus master plan and project goals. The project team addressed key design and cost challenges including hospital connectivity, linear accelerator vault design (materials, flexibility), future expansion, site infrastructure and accessibility. HSA looked at multiple lease structures and provided rental estimates for each structure to UC/SCH to input into their operating budgets. To meet operational requirements, HSA fixed the UC/SCH rental rate early in the design process and staggered the lease commencement dates to allow for installation and testing of the linear accelerator. The building was completed in April 2012. The facility has exceeded operating projections and UC/SCH have engaged HSA to add a second vault to the facility in 2013/14.