What are Rush's Plans for Malcolm X College Site?
By KRISTEN SCHORSCH
Rush University Medical Center is considering building a state-of-the-art academic facility and student housing on the site of Malcolm X College, creating an educational hub for its students and faculty.
The preliminary ideas are for 7 acres of the Malcolm X campus that Rush is acquiring once the college moves across the street next year. The Chicago Blackhawks are buying the remaining 4 acres of the 11-acre campus and plan to build a practice facility geared toward youth hockey.
Dr. Larry Goodman, CEO of Rush University Medical Center and president of Rush University, envisions a village where students could play and learn. They would live near a sports complex that would offer community programs while training to become doctors and nurses at the new Rush University.
"It sort of makes sense to almost zone a campus," Goodman said.
Nothing is final, and he said it's too soon to say how much the plans could cost. But they likely would be expensive.
LOOKING FOR MORE SPACE
Rush is the flagship of a four-hospital network and one of the biggest health systems in the Chicago area, with $2 billion in 2014 total revenue. That figure doesn't include Riverside Medical Center in Kankakee, which joined the hospital network in 2014 after its fiscal year ended.
Rush's ideas for the Malcolm X site were born out of strategic planning the medical center is doing for its Near West Side campus, which is quickly filling up. It's looking at everything from where to put a new outpatient medical building to more space for research.
Rush University, which has four colleges that train doctors, nurses and others pursuing a health sciences degree, in particular is brimming. Enrollment has doubled over the past 10 years, to nearly 2,500 students, Rush said in a statement.
The university is now mainly housed on campus at Armour Academic Facility. It has administrative offices, a large lecture hall and anatomy labs. But the way students learn has changed, Goodman said. They prefer the patient bedside, small groups and simulated scenarios to the traditional lecture hall, he said.
While only about 15 percent of students live in the 150 to 200 apartments that Rush owns, the units are aging and it would be more efficient to build anew, Goodman said. The existing university and student apartments would be repurposed for other uses, he said, adding that it would make more sense for them to be located close together.
BOOSTING PARTNERSHIPS
Rush's plans for its portion of Malcolm X, the designated health care hub of the City Colleges of Chicago, also would bolster the partnership between the college and Rush. Rush already trains Malcolm X students for jobs in health care and offers scholarships to help them finish their degrees at Rush University.
The Malcolm X site won't become available for at least a year. Goodman and a spokeswoman for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel would not say how much Rush could potentially pay for the land.
"Rush and the city are finalizing the deal points on the purchase agreement now, which will primarily be cash, but there is a commitment to exceed the appraised market value with a mixture of cash and community benefits," City Hall spokeswoman Elizabeth Langsdorf said in an email.
A statement from the mayor's office added that the purchase agreement will be finalized in early spring.
Rush University Medical Center is considering building a state-of-the-art academic facility and student housing on the site of Malcolm X College, creating an educational hub for its students and faculty.
The preliminary ideas are for 7 acres of the Malcolm X campus that Rush is acquiring once the college moves across the street next year. The Chicago Blackhawks are buying the remaining 4 acres of the 11-acre campus and plan to build a practice facility geared toward youth hockey.
Dr. Larry Goodman, CEO of Rush University Medical Center and president of Rush University, envisions a village where students could play and learn. They would live near a sports complex that would offer community programs while training to become doctors and nurses at the new Rush University.
"It sort of makes sense to almost zone a campus," Goodman said.
Nothing is final, and he said it's too soon to say how much the plans could cost. But they likely would be expensive.
LOOKING FOR MORE SPACE
Rush is the flagship of a four-hospital network and one of the biggest health systems in the Chicago area, with $2 billion in 2014 total revenue. That figure doesn't include Riverside Medical Center in Kankakee, which joined the hospital network in 2014 after its fiscal year ended.
Rush's ideas for the Malcolm X site were born out of strategic planning the medical center is doing for its Near West Side campus, which is quickly filling up. It's looking at everything from where to put a new outpatient medical building to more space for research.
Rush University, which has four colleges that train doctors, nurses and others pursuing a health sciences degree, in particular is brimming. Enrollment has doubled over the past 10 years, to nearly 2,500 students, Rush said in a statement.
The university is now mainly housed on campus at Armour Academic Facility. It has administrative offices, a large lecture hall and anatomy labs. But the way students learn has changed, Goodman said. They prefer the patient bedside, small groups and simulated scenarios to the traditional lecture hall, he said.
While only about 15 percent of students live in the 150 to 200 apartments that Rush owns, the units are aging and it would be more efficient to build anew, Goodman said. The existing university and student apartments would be repurposed for other uses, he said, adding that it would make more sense for them to be located close together.
BOOSTING PARTNERSHIPS
Rush's plans for its portion of Malcolm X, the designated health care hub of the City Colleges of Chicago, also would bolster the partnership between the college and Rush. Rush already trains Malcolm X students for jobs in health care and offers scholarships to help them finish their degrees at Rush University.
The Malcolm X site won't become available for at least a year. Goodman and a spokeswoman for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel would not say how much Rush could potentially pay for the land.
"Rush and the city are finalizing the deal points on the purchase agreement now, which will primarily be cash, but there is a commitment to exceed the appraised market value with a mixture of cash and community benefits," City Hall spokeswoman Elizabeth Langsdorf said in an email.
A statement from the mayor's office added that the purchase agreement will be finalized in early spring.
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