News at UI Health

The UI Health Specialty Care Building, located at 1009 S. Wood St.

The newest clinical building on the UI Health campus opened to patients Sept. 26.

The Specialty Care Building (SCB) at 1009 S. Wood St., is a new home for expert care and same-day surgery, located in the heart of the Illinois Medical District. The SCB is the new home to Illinois Eye & Ear at UI Health, which previously was located at 1855 W. Taylor St. It is also the location of the new Bruno and Sallie Pasquinelli Outpatient Surgery Center.

The building includes six floors of patient care space, with eight operating rooms and 24 pre-/post-surgery bays. It also includes 182 clinic rooms for Gastroenterology (GI), Ophthalmology, Otolaryngology, Transplant, and Urology care, and a pharmacy.

The building is projected to serve 600 to 800 patients per day and perform 8,000+ surgeries and 8,000+ GI procedures annually.

The new building also will include new technology and functionality for an improved patient experience, from check-in kiosks to valet parking and intuitive wayfinding.

Construction of the building, which was contracted to Pepper/Brown & Momen Construction, employed around 500 individuals over the course of the two-year project. Approximately 20% of professional services and 35% of construction vendors were local minority, women, persons with disabilities and veteran-owned businesses certified under the Business Enterprise Program Act.

Operations and expanded clinical services in the new building are expected to create more than 100 full-time positions once it is fully operational. The majority of new jobs include positions that are part of the university's collective bargaining units.

Under the public-private partnership between UIC and Provident Resources Group, a 501(c)(3) corporation, Provident financed 100% of the construction through tax-exempt bonds and now leases the facility to UI Health for the 30-year term of the bonds. Additional funding for medical equipment and furnishings was provided by private philanthropy.

Leadership from UI Health and UIC celebrated the opening with a ribbon-cutting event Sept. 14.

“This building supports not just the medical health, but the economic health of our communities, and gives us a better platform to continue our service throughout the West and South Sides of Chicago,” said Mike Zenn, CEO of University of Illinois Hospital & Clinics. “The Specialty Care Building is a significant tool in our drive to address the inequities of access which are at the core of disparities in health outcomes.”