Northwestern Medicine Palos Health South Campus

Palos Health redeveloped and expanded an existing outpatient campus in the southern Chicago suburb of Orland Park, Illinois. The campus formerly housed a mix of medical offices, which were built over the last 30 years in three disjointed buildings.

As the civil engineering and traffic & parking consultant, Eriksson Engineering Associates, Ltd. (EEA) supported the design-build contractor, Walsh Construction, in creating a campus master plan that unified the existing spaces and incorporated an 80,000-square-foot new addition. EEA prepared and permitted five distinct sets of construction documents in order to fast-track the time to market for Palos Health. The first set of documents were approved by the Village prior to receipt of initial zoning and planning approvals with the second set being delivered to the Village the morning after the zoning approvals were granted. This “just in time” process reduced the time to market by at least four months.

EEA conducted traffic and parking studies in support of the expansion of the South Campus. During the approval process, the plan went through several iterations due to the community’s desire to keep the existing Fitness Center and understand the potential impacts of the remaining undeveloped parcels. The traffic study results supported the relocation of one entrance and pedestrian improvements to an existing traffic signal. Parking surveys were conducted to determine the future parking needs which exceeded the minimum code requirements. Functional parking plans for a parking structure were developed.

The $80 million Palos Health South Campus project, which opened in October 2018, includes a new ambulatory care center, 40,000 square feet of renovated space, a new 316-car parking deck, offsite roadway, and signalization improvements, and the complete replacement of all site improvements.