Edward Hospital wants to tear down buildings for new cardiovascular center on its Naperville campus
A three-story medical office that would serve as a cardiovascular center for the Edward Hospital campus has been proposed for the southwest corner of Martin Avenue and Washington Street in Naperville.
The 96,430-square-foot center would replace the existing medical offices on the on 2.31-acre site built in the 1970s.
Designed to complement the Edward campus, the new building would provide 70,000 square feet of rentable medical office space and a basement parking garage with added parking on the ground level, according to plans submitted to the city.
Before construction can proceed, developer Ryan Cos. of Minnesota needs the Naperville City Council to rezone the land for a health services district and to authorize setback, parking and signage variances.
The Naperville Planning and Zoning Commission will review the requests at its 7 p.m. Wednesday meeting and make a recommendation as to whether the requested changes should be approved.
While Edward Hospital is zoned for health services, the corner property where the new building would go is zoned as office, commercial and institutional use.
A memo from Sara Kopinski, a community planner with the city’s Transportation, Engineering and Development department, said rezoning will integrate the property into the hospital campus by creating a new entrance on Martin Avenue and providing additional shared parking and signage to improve traffic flow.
While the majority of improvements proposed are at 10 W. Martin Ave., the proposal expands a portion of the ground-level parking lot onto the adjacent Edward property at 800 S. Washington St.
Multiple setback restrictions are being requested because of limitations on the buildable area, including utilities that cannot be relocated. The project needs to accommodate the new Martin Avenue entrance, reroute Pam Davis Drive and close the entrance to and exit from Washington Street.
The proposed building and parking lot configurations do not interfere with traffic sightlines and will adhere to the city’s landscaping rules, according to the developer’s proposal.
Under health services zoning, all parking is treated as shared by the buildings in the district, according to Naperville code.
If the zoning change is granted, Kopinski said the new medical office wouldn’t have to provide code-required parking as long as the amount of parking provided throughout the health services district is adequate.
A parking study from Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. shows the property’s proposed shared parking with Edward Hospital provides flexibility for employees, patients and visitors, should support peak demand and will prevent spillover onto adjacent streets.
Patients and staff are not expected to move between the hospital and the proposed clinic during individual appointments although physicians may need to do so during the course of a day.
Four sign variances are requested by the developer to identify the new medical office building and Edward Hospital and to help guests find their way to the right building.
