Northwestern Medicine Plans $83 Million Oak Brook Outpatient Facility

CHICAGO — Northwestern Medicine officials plan to open a $83.3 million outpatient care facility in Oak Brook as part of the redevelopment of the former McDonald's headquarters.

Work on the seven-story, 67,264-square-foot ambulatory care center could begin as soon as July, with the project substantially complete by the end of next year and ready to open to the public by June 2024, according to an application filed last month with state hospital regulators.

The center is planned for 1001 Commerce Drive, inside a building developed speculatively by Chicago-based MedProperties Group. According to Northwestern's application to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board, it is set to include offices for Northwestern Medicine Regional Medical Group as well as infusion services, diagnostic imaging, physical therapy and a laboratory.

Northwestern Medicine representatives said the new outpatient center, located about 20 miles from Northwestern Memorial Hospital and 12 miles from Central DuPage Hospital will improve access to the health system's facilities.

"This project will help accommodate current and projected demand for [Northwestern Medicine] services at both [Northwestern Memorial] and [Central DuPage] and allow for the co-location of specialty services, such as cardiology, oncology, neurology and orthopedics, in a convenient location for patients and physicians," the application said.

According to the application, hospital officials considered building a new structure from scratch, but that would have been just as expensive as occupying the MedProperties development at Oak Brook Commons and would have taken an extra year.

Northwestern also worked with a commercial real estate broker to look for other suitable buildings in the area that could be leased or bought, but none of them had proper infrastructure or a suitable location, and all of them would have ended up resulting in an inferior facility, it said.

Currently, a large number of Northwestern Medicine patients have to travel more than 10 miles for treatment. They include a significant number of patients in Access DuPage, a program which helps DuPage County residents without immigration status receive primary care medical services, who are treated at Central DuPage Hospital, according to the application.

"More accessible preventative services will prove beneficial in improving health status, increasing life spans, and elevating the quality of life," it said, "as well as lowering the costs associated with caring for late-stage diseases resulting from a lack of preventative care."