‘Top-Off’ at Outpatient Surgery Center marks construction milestone

UI Health marked an important milestone in the construction of the new Outpatient Surgery Center and Specialty Clinics building in May — the final beam was placed atop the building frame. The “top-off” represents a midway point of the project.

Present at the construction site of the building, located at 1009 S. Wood St., during the top-off were Bruno and Sallie Pasquinelli, who pledged $10 million through the Pasquinelli Family Foundation for the project, and leaders from UI Health and UIC.

The 200,000 square-foot facility is part of the campus master plan, and UIC broke ground on the building in August. The building will accommodate the increasing volume and complexity of surgical care, education and research at UIC and will feature six floors of patient care space, including an outpatient surgery center supporting transplant, ophthalmology, urology, and otolaryngology specialty clinics, and an outpatient endoscopy and procedure suite.

As part of the construction project, UI Health is focusing on engaging minority-owned, woman-owned, and veteran-owned businesses, with a goal of 30% of construction costs supporting these businesses. The new building and expanded clinical services also will create more than 100 full-time positions that are part of UIC collective bargaining units.

UI Health expects to welcome patients to the Outpatients Surgery Center and Specialty Clinics building in Fall 2022. For the latest project updates, visit OSC.UIHealth.Care.