Preservation Watch

The high stakes battle to save Prentice Hospital from the wrecking ball continues to heat up. Northwestern University is firing back at preservationists, releasing a report to bolster its claim that the Bertrand Goldberg-designed hospital should be replaced with a new high-tech research facility. According to the report, the facility would add 2,000 full-time jobs (along with 2,500 construction jobs), attract $300M in research dollars, and provide an economic impact of $4B in its first 10 years of operations. Responding to critics, Northwestern pointed out that 72 percent of Chicago residents favor its plans (courtesy of a dubious survey), with most of the support for saving Prentice coming from outside the city. In addition, the report highlighted the importance of the Prentice site, stressing that facilities must be adjacent to one another in order to facilitate more efficient research. All this plays out as both sides await a ruling on whether to grant the 37-year old hospital landmark protection, which could come sometime this fall. [Crain's by subscription, previously]