Lang
9/4/21
The newly-approved University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics campus in North Liberty will have an added building not in the original plans.
Last Tuesday, the State Health Facilities Council approved a 48-bed, 300,000 square foot facility to be built near the corner of Highway 965 and Forevergreen Road. The project was originally estimated to cost $230 million. But plans for the project released Friday now include a 169,000 square foot academic and research building on the same campus. That drives the cost of the total project to $395 million. That’s over $2 million more than the cost of the 14-story Stead Family Children’s Hospital…a project that saw numerous cost overruns and ended up costing $392.7 million.
Several local physicians, clinics and hospitals opposed the North Liberty project, arguing that it would duplicate services already in the area.
The Board of Regents has scheduled a special telephonic meeting for Tuesday morning at 10:30 to give its approval of the North Liberty project. If approved, construction could start as early as next month. Early projections have it opening in 2025.