Lurie Children’s is preparing to step firmly into the suburbs, unveiling plans Wednesday for a new low-acuity pediatric hospital in the Downers Grove area that would mark its first inpatient facility outside its Streeterville hub. The pitch is straightforward: give suburban families a place for overnight pediatric care that does not require a trip downtown, and strengthen the children’s hospital’s growing suburban footprint. Local officials are already treating it like a marquee investment.
According to a release from Lurie Children’s, the proposed site would include a pediatric emergency department, operating rooms, inpatient beds and a slate of specialty services that ranges from oncology and cardiology to gastroenterology and orthopedics. “This is an exciting opportunity for Lurie Children’s to bring internationally recognized pediatric care closer to home for families in the western suburbs,” President and CEO Tom Shanley said in the announcement. Hospital officials stressed that planning is in the early stages and that the project still needs to clear state regulatory hurdles.
As detailed by the Chicago Tribune, the hospital is expected to have roughly 40 to 50 inpatient beds and an emergency department of about 40 rooms. The Tribune reports that Lurie has not yet submitted a formal application to the state review board. If the project is approved, the facility could open sometime in late 2028 or early 2029.
Regulatory review and permitting
Before any cranes hit the skyline, Lurie must file its proposal with the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board, which oversees new hospital projects and certificate-of-need requests. The board’s published materials outline the steps for filing an application, paying fees and navigating possible public hearings. Those timelines will ultimately dictate how quickly Lurie can move from conceptual design to construction and, eventually, licensing.
Suburban impact and capacity gaps
Lurie estimates that about 47 percent of children living in the western suburbs currently leave their home communities when they need overnight inpatient care. The new hospital is meant to chip away at that exodus. The shift comes as more than 20 community hospitals in the Chicago region have shuttered their pediatric units since 2012, the Tribune reported, leaving fewer local options for families whose kids need a hospital stay.
Downers Grove Mayor Bob Barnett, quoted in Lurie’s release, called the proposal “a significant and needed investment in local health infrastructure” and said the village is eager to collaborate with the hospital system. Lurie is framing the project as a low-acuity facility designed to keep routine inpatient care closer to home, while continuing to route the most complex and intensive cases to its downtown specialists.
What’s next for families
Lurie says more information will roll out as planning progresses and the state review process unfolds. The new hospital is meant to plug into a broader suburban strategy. The system has already been expanding beyond downtown and, according to Skender, opened a 75,000-square-foot outpatient center in Schaumburg in 2025. The Downers Grove-area site is intended to be another node in that growing network.
For families in DuPage County and surrounding suburbs, the next concrete signs of movement will likely show up in public notices and state filings tied to the review board. Until then, the proposal remains on the drawing board, but with city leaders and hospital executives clearly signaling they expect it to become a major new player in suburban pediatric care.
