Hunter
10/21/24
Two years after proposing the addition of two more stories to the John Pappajohn Pavilion, University of Iowa Health Care has shelved the project.
The Gazette reports the $95 million project was supposed to start work in summer 2023 and add 38,000 square feet to the property. The budget included renovating the existing floors seven and eight; adding a level nine for 24 intensive care unit beds; and topping the tower with a 10th level, which would serve as a mechanical penthouse for the floors below.
A change in leadership and the purchase of the Mercy Hospital property in Iowa City has caused a change in plans.
New Vice President for Medical Affairs Denise Jamieson said adding floors to existing infrastructure is “extraordinarily expensive.” UIHC is now moving forward on building a new inpatient tower expected to cost more than $1 billion that would be considerably bigger than the current Stead Family Children’s Hospital.
Officials are still planning a $74 million project that would expand maternity services on the 7th floor of and an expansion of the neonatal intensive care unit at the Children’s Hospital.