As announced in October 2018, the University is building a new student wellness center to further improve our health, counseling, and wellness services. The center will expand the existing student health facility located at the University of Chicago Medical Center on 59th Street and Maryland Avenue and will feature a dedicated entrance on 59th Street for greater ease of access. The new space will bring together medical, counseling and psychiatry, and health promotion services in one location, enabling us to provide wellness programming and integrated care in a welcoming and student-centered environment, with increased medical and mental health providers on staff.
Project Schedule
- April 2019: Construction began
- March 2020: Medical suite opened
- Late 2020: Full Center opens; counseling and psychiatry and health promotion move in
Student Feedback
To ensure the new wellness center meets the needs of students, the plans for the center have been developed with significant student feedback in mind, including: feedback shared during a number of focus groups and a town hall meeting with architects in Autumn Quarter 2018; through a survey sent to students in November 2018; via our online feedback form; through the Student Health Advisory Board; and, through ongoing conversations with students across campus. We continue to seek student feedback and will be asking students for their input on the interior features and experience of the wellness center in the coming months. You can also share feedback at any time via our feedback form.
Project Location
The new wellness center will be located at the corner of 59th Street and Maryland Avenue, facing the Midway Plaisance and two blocks west of the Main Quadrangles.
Project Updates
We will be sharing regular updates regarding the construction of the wellness center on this page. Please check back often for updates. Click the links below to exand each section to learn more about the project updates.
Current Status
November 19, 2020: Phase Two Nearing Completion
Construction on phase two is quickly wrapping up and we have received our Certificate of Occupancy from the City of Chicago. Counseling, Psychiatry, and Health Promotion are preparing to move in by the end of the quarter.
Video Walk-Through
This video from the new Wellness Center takes you through the construction site, including the newly opened medical suite. Be sure to check out the beautiful wood ceiling above the nurse station and the glass main entrance!
Landscapers have planted beautiful greenery outside in the courtyard and inside in the main lobby.
Following the successful opening of the medical suite, main lobby, and 57th Street entrance, demolition and construction has now begun on phase two of the project. Skylights also continue to be installed throughout the new addition.
The 59th Street entrance is open! Students can access the building by walking up the ramp or stairs in the courtyard and through the main glass door entrance. Every student is temperature checked at this main door they can proceed to the reception desk for check-in.
The main lobby is quickly taking shape as construction continues! The first photo looks towards the main entrance and lobby from the vantage point of where the reception desk will be. The second photo is of the main lobby and the multi-purpose room's glass wall. The third photo is of the glass main entrance.
May 11, 2020: Medical Suite Opens and Main Lobby Construction Continues
As the opening of the medical suite nears, the nurse station area and exam rooms are painted in a green and blue palette.
The top photo shows the area that will become the main lobby (looking east), and the multipurpose room (framed out on the left) that is starting to take shape. To the right, you can see where a glass wall will be, bringing in a lot of natural light. The multipurpose room will be home to a variety of workshops, yoga classes, meditation sessions, staff trainings, and interdisciplinary treatment team meetings, among many other uses.
The middle photo is another shot of the construction on the main lobby and multipurpose room. In the bottom photo, drywall is going up in what will become exam rooms.
The medical suite of the center is expected to open at the beginning of Spring Quarter!
Construction continues in both big, noticeable ways and small, behind-the-scene ways. This week, the roof's steel frame detailing was installed along with its drain piping. The first photo also shows the new addition's rough pumbling. On the smaller scale, work has begun on a new IT room and electrical wires are being pulled throughout the project.
Cold and snowy weather has not hampered the steady progress of the new Wellness Center. The walls and ceilings of the existing wing continue to be built as seen in the first photo. In the new addition, more and more of the roof takes shape and the concrete base has finally been poured.
Electrical and data infrastrucure is installed in both the existing wing and new addition.
Frames for walls are being installed in the renovated west wing, realizing the space's layout (the second photo will be a bathroom). Meanwhile, the foundational work continues in the new addition in preparation for pouring concrete.
A sunny day and the newly installed roof draw attention to natural light in new addition. In the first photo, the right hand side along the stone facade will be skylights. In the second photo, the sun is hitting the future courtyard entrance and front lobby glass wall.
Pipes for plumbing are laid underneath the new addition while the HVAC system is installed in an existing wing.
Elevated beams highlight the construction's rapid progress!
The new addition is starting to take shape!
See photos of the courtyard looking northeast.
See photos of the courtyard looking north.
View a photo of the courtyard looking southeast.
See a photo of the courtyard.
Photos of courtyard site clearing.
The City of Chicago has formally issued an address for the new Wellness Center! For ease of access and to create a unique wellness identity and experience, the new center includes a dedicated entrance, and students will not need to enter through the medical center. The city has formally assigned 840 E. 59th St. as the new address.
View this video of the demolition zone, which highlights where features of the Student Health Center will be located.
See photos of the work on the west wing.
View this video of the demolition zone.
The project includes a full gut renovation of the first floor of the existing UCMC facility at 59th Street and Maryland Avenue, as well as a brand new addition to that building. The first phase of construction began in April with demolition on the west wing. Medical providers will remain in their current location until spring of 2020, and then relocate to the west wing of the new center.
