Rush University Medical Center broke ground Wednesday on a $450 million outpatient care center and said the largest donation in the institution’s history will partially support it.
The 10-story, 480,000-square-foot building will be named for Joan and Paul Rubschlager and will house services for cancer and the neurosciences. It will be at the northeast corner of Ashland Avenue and Harrison Street and will be connected to the main hospital by a pedestrian bridge over Ashland. It is scheduled to be finished in 2022.
The Rubschlagers are former owners of Rubschlager Baking Corp., whose Humboldt Park location was closed in 2014 after they sold the company. They had operated it since 1977, according to Rush.
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Deb Song, associate director of media relations for the hospital, said that while the amount of the couple’s gift isn’t being disclosed, it exceeds Rush’s previous record donation of $45 million.
The couple’s past gifts to Rush have supported bone and joint research, cancer research and mental health care for veterans.
In a prepared statement, the Rubschlagers said, “For more than four decades, we’ve felt like part of the Rush family, as patients, as donors and friends, and through Joan’s association as a trustee. We know the positive outcomes we’ve experienced during that time are due to the generous investments other philanthropists have made in advancing care.
“Today we’re thrilled to continue that tradition, investing in Rush’s exciting new outpatient care building and the health of the patients Rush will serve there.”
The building is designed to emphasize training, education and research. Patients will have access to new treatment options through clinical trials.
The development, which is right next to the Eisenhower Expressway, will include an adjacent six-story parking garage for 900 vehicles.
HDR Architecture, based in Omaha, Neb., designed the building. It also worked on the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago.
