Redevelopment plan announced for Chicago’s historic Cook County Hospital

This week, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced the redevelopment team for the Cook County Hospital building in Chicago.

The plan would turn the now-vacant hospital into a hotel with apartments and shops, as the Chicago Tribune reports. The Civic Health Development Group (CHDG) will invest $600 million into the project.

“This project creates and fosters true urban transformation in the heart of our County,” Preckwinkle said in a statement. “New residential, retail, office and hotel construction will create a vibrant mixed-use community enhancing the adjacent Illinois Medical District and Chicago’s near West Side.”

The hospital was completed in 1916, and eventually accommodated 3,000 beds. In 2002, the John H. Stroger, Jr., Hospital of Cook County opened, and the Cook County Hospital eventually became an empty graffiti-covered structure. Thieves targeted the building for its metal pipes.

For the last 18 years, Landmarks Illinois has fought for the preservation of the old hospital that features a Beaux Arts-style façade, Ionic stone columns, and terra cotta detailing. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006 and has fended off attempts for demolition since then.

Preckwinkle and developers say that construction will start next year and finish in 2018.