Building a new Cook County hospital will cost less than renovating the existing 81-year-old institution, according to a study commissioned by the county.
The proposed 525-bed hospital would cost $625 million and would require the issuance of $566 million of bonds, according to Woods Bowman, the county's chief financial officer. Improving the existing 930-bed institution located about a mile west of downtown Chicago would require $693 million of bonds, Bowman said.
The proposed hospital would be smaller than the existing one because of the increasing trend toward community-based outpatient care, according to a county press release.
An analysis that will determine the final size and scope of the new center is expected to be completed next year, Bowman said. The county then will seek a "certificate of need" from the state to begin construction.
Bowman projected that the county could issue bonds "in the tens of millions of dollars" in 1994 for architectural purposes. However, the bulk of the bonds most likely would not be sold until 1995, he said.
Bowman said that the bond issue would not require an increase in property taxes, partly due to savings from the retirement of old bonds.
The hospital study, conducted by Coopers & Lybrand, was commissioned by a special health services panel set up in 1991 by county board president Richard Phelan, who is running for governor.
