$251M Malcolm X College Debuts in West Side Chicago

By Ioana Neamt, Associate Editor

Malcolm X College & School of Health Sciences lobby – featuring Malcolm X’s Oldsmobile 98

Chicago—Mayor Rahm Emanuel, together with City Colleges of Chicago Chancellor Cheryl Hyman, marked the official opening of the new Malcolm X College & School of Health Sciences on January 7.

Located in West Side Chicago, adjacent to the United Center and next door to the Illinois Medical District, the $251 million facility will be the home of City Colleges’ College to Careers center for excellence in health and education. The 1 million-square-foot facility includes a wide variety of state-of-the-art technologies and services, including:

• a virtual hospital complete with operating and emergency rooms;
• nursing, radiography, respiratory care and science labs;
• an ambulance for EMT simulations;
• a free dental hygiene clinic to open in 2016;
• an exercise and sports sciences area that features a 900-seat gymnasium, two therapy pools, and one lap pool.

The team working on the project was comprised of: architect of record Moody Nolan, the country’s largest African-American owned architecture firm; construction manager Jacobs Project Management Co.; general contractor CMO; and designer Cannon Design. The project took 26 months to complete, and was designed to receive LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

In addition to providing a plethora of advanced medical technologies and learning services, the new Malcolm X College can accommodate up to 20,000 students and includes an eight-story health science tower, a four-story academic building, a 1,500-space parking garage, new fitness center, library, bookstore and cafeteria. The college campus also includes an outdoor garden, a multi-purpose conference center, and a child care center.

“We deeply value Malcolm X College as an academic and community partner, and together we have been working to create a pipeline of talented health care professionals for the future,” Dr. Larry Goodman, president at Rush University and CEO at Rush University Medical Center, said at the opening event. “This has included career-ladder opportunities for Malcolm X students, clinical rotations at Rush University Medical Center for Malcolm X students and faculty development opportunities at Rush University for Malcolm X faculty,” Goodman explained. Rush University Medical Center was a lead partner in the development of the new college campus.

The Malcolm X College & School of Health Sciences is part of the City Colleges of Chicago’s five-year, $524 million capital plan that aims to complete major improvements throughout the city’s seven-campus community college system. The program, part of City Colleges’ College to Careers initiative, also includes a new $45 million Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics Center at Olive-Harvey College.

The Malcolm X College is not the only new healthcare initiative in the limelight this month in Chicago. UChicago Medicine has also announced plans to build a level 1 adult trauma center at its Hyde Park campus in South Side Chicago, the first of its kind in the area since the early 1990s.

Images courtesy of City Colleges of Chicago