As Lockwood Development Partners continues to push its plan to turn the long vacant MetroSouth Hospital into a senior living complex, some residents of Blue Island implored community leaders to bring back a full-service emergency medical facility.
“We need the hospital reopened as a full functioning hospital,” said Allan Stevo at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. “I hope and I pray that the City Council works to open up a hospital and stops this nonsense.”
Kiesha Johnson echoed similar sentiments.
“We definitely do need us a hospital out here. The closest hospital here to us is Ingalls and they are not prepared to handle all of the influx from the other places,” Johnson said. “Although their pitch is a good pitch, definitely what we need in Blue Island is we need our hospital back.”
City administrator Thomas Wogan said while he is not taking sides on the specific development plans, the city has worked to bring a hospital back since MetroSouth closed in 2019.
“We had several meetings with several hospital providers trying to get them to at least leave the emergency room open,” Wogan said. “The reason it was unsuccessful is because the hospital industry is changing rapidly and it is changing rapidly enough that they don’t buy old buildings anymore … It likely will not be a hospital again because, Lord, we tried.”
Lockwood Development Partners’ plans are far from finalized and more discussions are planned with city officials and the public. Discussion will continue at the council meeting at 7 p.m. on Dec. 12 at Blue Island City Hall East Annex, 2434 W. Vermont St.
Dan McNulty, a consultant at Tower Group Holdings who works on behalf of Lockwood Development Partners, said Nov. 22 the discussions about zoning are a lead factor in deciding if this development moves forward. The firm is seeking exceptions to Blue Island’s regular zoning rules which may complicate those discussions.
“What we’re looking to do with the studio units is we’re looking for a departure for minimum room size in Blue Island,” said Nick Standiford, a partner at the law firm Schain Banks, which represents Lockwood Development Partners. “The code requires the rooms to be 500 square feet. We’re looking for those to be down to 300 square feet on some.”
Firms advocating on behalf of Lockwood Development Partners point to Aurora-based Bloomhaven senior living facility and medical complex.
“At Bloomhaven, they have rooms (of) similar size and people say that they like the small rooms because there are so many amenities they don’t want to be in their room,” Standiford told the City Council Tuesday. “They want to be out. And that’s the whole purpose of senior housing and senior living.”
Leadership at Bloomhaven and one of the buildings in the Aurora complex called Bardwell Residences have advocated on behalf of Lockwood Development Partners. Bardwell executive director Mitch Rivera told City Council members the model has worked.
Lockwood representatives also noted the Bloomhaven complex, like MetroSouth, was developed using a long vacant facility.
“The old Copley hospital lay vacant for 20 years down in Aurora,” said Rivera, who is also chief operating officer of Aurora-based development firm JTE Real Estate Services. “The site was one of the top 10 police responded to locations for more than 15 years down there.”
Rivera said the studios are 40% leased while the apartments are 25% leased.
