In the Media
Hyde Park Herald - July 20, 2005

Hospital employee garage to be built on 61st St.
By JEREMY ADRAGNA
Staff Writer

The South Side's largest employer is making room to grow.

Last week, the University of Chicago Hospitals announced plans to construct a new 1,000-space employee parking garage at 61st Street and Drexel Avenue in the Woodlawn neighborhood. The structure is also slated to be the new home of the university's police department. The project will be underway this fall.

The plan was announced as part of the university's Master Plan at a community meeting held at the School of Social Service Administration, 969 E. 60th St., on July 14.

The multi-level garage with attached office space will be one of the first new projects to sprout up in the South Campus between the Midway Plaisance and 61st Street since the Master Plan was expanded last year.

The parking structure should be completed by the end of 2006 and is one of five projects to be completed by 2008.

Assistant Vice President and Director of Community Affairs Sonya Malunda said that the construction of the parking garage will make up for a lack of off-street parking and the project gives the university “an opportunity to work with our neighbor to the south and to help build a relationship.”

Several such meetings have been held in recent months as the South Campus redevelopment has gotten underway to gain input from residents of the adjoining Woodlawn neighborhood.

Woodlawn Ald. Arenda Troutman (20th) was also on hand at the meeting to give her assessment of the project. She touted the level of involvement by African-American contractors and architects such as Bronzeville's Campbell Tiu Campbell firm.

Mark Urquhart, vice president of UCH Support Services, said that in recent years the hospitals have grown “exponentially” and have even outgrown two parking garages built on campus since 1997, the main reason this newest structure is being built.

“It's a miserable problem,” Urquhart said. “People are saying, ‘it's too difficult to access your service so we're going to go somewhere else' and we can't let that happen.”

The garage will include a four-story office building that wraps around its south and east sides. The first floor is set to be occupied by the University of Chicago Police Department, which is currently housed at 5555 S. Ellis Ave. where the university plans to expand the adjacent Court Theater and Smart Museum before 2020.

“The building we're currently in was built at the turn of the century,” said UCPD executive director Rudy Nimocks. “We want to reconstitute our services and update our communication system. Right now my officers are hand writing reports and that's time they could be out on the streets.”

The UCPD currently employs about 150 officers, 80 percent of which are off-duty Chicago Police officers, to patrol an area between 39th and 64th Streets, east of Cottage Grove Avenue.

The building will include 60,000 square feet of office space. The second, third and fourth floors of which will be occupied by outpatient clinics.

The plot of land is currently used as a 150-space surface parking lot for hospital employees. During construction, employees will park on unused Park District property at 59th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue.