WASHINGTON PARK — The University of Chicago and City Colleges of Chicago are moving forward with a joint health campus that will break ground early next year in Washington Park. Officials say the project will bring 550 jobs to the South Side, directly responding to community‑requested workforce development.
Campus details and timeline
The campus will sit between the Garfield Green Line CTA station and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. It will feature a UChicago pathology laboratory and a Malcolm X College South Side learning center. The pathology lab, slated for a $200 million investment, will support the UChicago Cancer Center expected to open in 2027. Construction firms BOWA and Leopardo will handle the lab, while UJAMAA Construction will build a shared parking garage with 630 spaces.
Groundbreaking is planned for spring 2027, with a tentative opening in 2029. A pedestrian bridge will link the lab building to the parking structure, and a shared plaza and public food hall will connect the two facilities.
Job creation and community impact
According to Catina Latham, senior vice president for community health transformation at UChicago Medicine, the project will create 550 jobs. Of those, 350 positions will be transferred from the medical center’s main campus in Hyde Park, while 200 are brand‑new roles. “I’m a Bronzeville resident, so I’m a resident nearby … we did a community health needs assessment. People said they want workforce development and job opportunities,” Latham said.
The Malcolm X College building, a 58,000‑square‑foot facility, will be the college’s first South Side campus and will enroll 155 students its first year, expanding programs such as anesthesiology, sterile processing, phlebotomy, community health, patient‑care technician and medical assistant training.
Long‑standing partnership
UChicago and City Colleges have partnered since 2016, with UChicago hosting roughly 65 Malcolm X College students each year for internships and hiring 120 graduates. The new campus will deepen that pipeline, offering Malcolm X College students career opportunities in the pathology lab and broader health‑science fields.
The site was previously part of the proposed Washington Park Obama Presidential Center, which the Obama Foundation moved to Jackson Park in 2016. The Washington Park quality‑of‑life plan, completed in 2009, envisions jobs and skill‑building for residents, a vision echoed by UChicago President Paul Alivisatos.
Original reporting: Block Club Chicago — read the source article.
