Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood, Feb. 8, 2024. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
By Lisa Schencker | lschencker@chicagotribune.com | Chicago Tribune
PUBLISHED: January 28, 2026 at 10:44 AM CST | UPDATED: January 28, 2026 at 10:56 AM CST
Lurie Children’s Hospital is in the early stages of planning a new children’s hospital in the Downers Grove area, Lurie announced Wednesday.
The new hospital would be the system’s first hospital with inpatient beds outside of its main facility in Streeterville. The plan follows years of community hospitals across Illinois closing their pediatric units.
The new hospital would likely have about 40 to 50 inpatient beds, an emergency department with about 40 rooms, surgery suites and offer subspecialties such as oncology, cardiology, gastroenterology and orthopedics, said Dr. Tom Shanley, Lurie president and CEO.
The new hospital would be low-acuity, meaning that it would be intended for children who don’t necessarily need the highest, most complex level of care, which is provided at Lurie’s downtown hospital.
Lurie has not yet submitted an application to the state Health Facilities and Services Review Board for the new hospital, which must approve of the plans in order for them to move forward. If the board approves of the new hospital, it could open in late 2028 or early 2029, Shanley said. The hospital has not yet said what the project might cost.
The new hospital would be intended to meet a need for pediatric care and emergency services in the western suburbs, Shanley said. According to Lurie, about 47% of children in the western suburbs now leave their communities if they need overnight hospital care.
“This new facility represents a significant and needed investment in local health infrastructure and pediatric health,” said Downers Grove Mayor Bob Barnett in a Lurie news release.
In recent years, a number of community hospitals across Illinois have closed their pediatric units, as more procedures can now be done without an overnight stay and amid competition from larger children’s hospitals such as Lurie, Advocate Children’s Hospital and UChicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital, which are often top choices for families seeking complex pediatric care.
More than 20 community hospitals in the Chicago area have closed their pediatric units since 2012, according to a previous application for changes filed with the state board by Lurie.
The plan to open a new hospital is also part of Lurie’s ongoing efforts to expand as a health system. Lurie recently opened a 75,000-square-foot outpatient center in Schaumburg, which is now one of more than 20 Lurie outpatient centers across the Chicago area. Lurie has also partnered with 10 Chicago area hospitals and plans to open a community health center in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood in the fall.
Many Chicago area health systems have been expanding in recent years, mostly by building new outpatient facilities and by acquiring hospitals owned by other systems.
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