Northwestern Memorial Hospital officials met with Streeterville residents Wednesday night and said they have worked to address concerns about the hospital’s proposal to build a 1.2 million-square-foot tower on a vacant lot.
Northwestern plans to start excavating the site later this year but still needs several state and city approvals before launching construction, most likely in 2027. The community’s support helps clear the way for the 23-story building, where the hospital will care for cancer patients.
“I haven’t had any community feedback saying please don’t build this building,” said Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, who hosted the meeting along with Streeterville Organization of Active Residents. “It’s been a very strong response from Streeterville residents who have said, ‘We are neighbors of this healthcare campus.’”
At a community meeting last summer, many neighbors mourned the impending loss of the vacant lot, just across the street from Northwestern Memorial’s Feinberg Pavilion and bordered by Fairbanks Court, Huron Street, McClurg Court and Erie Street. The tree-lined parcel of more than 3 acres, once home to the now-demolished Lakeside VA hospital, is one of the neighborhood’s few open and green spaces.
Hospital officials said the original plan was to excavate the entire site. But after last summer’s meeting they decided to preserve the eastern third, which is adjacent to 680 North Lake Shore Drive, a residential and medical office building.
“We heard loud and clear that the community wanted this to remain free and clear as green space,” said Charles Cloutier, Northwestern Medicine’s project vice president for planning and construction. “We want to be good neighbors.”
Cloutier said the hospital also tried to address concerns about possible traffic congestion around the new cancer center. Drivers dropping off patients or visitors will be able to access the four-story underground parking facility without going back out on the street. The hospital also reached an agreement with the Chicago Department of Transportation to make exiting the facility easier by allowing traffic on a portion of Huron Street to go both ways.
“We didn’t want to force all the traffic from the building onto Fairbanks,” Cloutier said. “The (traffic from the) building is only going to add a few seconds to getting through these intersections even at peak times.”
Northwestern also plans to use fritted glass on the building’s lower floors to reduce deadly bird strikes, he added. Environmental advocates frequently press Chicago property owners to include this feature, especially for lakefront buildings likely to attract migratory birds.
“I’ve lived through a lot of high-rises going up,” said a longtime resident of 680 North Lake Shore Drive. “I appreciate you took a lot of the neighborhood feedback.”
The project is part of a multiyear campus transformation, Cloutier said. The hospital also plans to add 11 new operating rooms and dozens of inpatient beds to other campus buildings by 2028. It will complete the new tower by 2031 and reserve it mostly for cancer patients, who now receive treatment in numerous buildings across Streeterville.
The new building will include skybridges over Fairbanks Court and Erie Street connecting it to the neighboring Feinberg Pavilion and the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, along with several rooftop gardens.
Cloutier warned neighbors that before starting construction, excavators will need to dig out the old foundation of the Lakeside VA. It’s a big job and could take 12 months, but the hospital will closely monitor the noise and dust coming from the site.
“I’m going to be upfront, we’re going to be working a lot of Saturdays,” he said.
Hopkins said he plans to hold more community meetings as the project moves forward.
“There is still an opportunity to get your hands in this,” he said. “Especially the people in 680 (North Lake Shore Drive), because it’s in your backyard.”
