Aurora set to break ground on hospital Thursday
$189 million hospital will take two years to build
Waukesha Freeman, May 16, 2007
By LISA M. REED
Freeman Staff
TOWN OF SUMMIT A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Aurora
Medical Center will be held Thursday, and town of Summit Chairman
Len Susa said he could not be more excited about the construction of
the $189 million medical center.
It is our gateway to the town because it is on I-94 and Highway
67, he said. The design is a new standard for what is going to be
built.
Plans call for 110 patient rooms, a modern, efficient design that
emphasizes comfort and convenience for patients and their families,
the latest technology for diagnosis and treatment, a full service
emergency department staffed 24 hours a day by physicians who are
board-certified in emergency medicine and cardiovascular services
and more.
The new medical center will be at the southeast corner of
Interstate 94 and Highway 67.
Susa said the new hospital will bring almost 700 new jobs to
western Waukesha County and a higher level of jobs.
It meets expectations of what the town is looking for
architecturally, landscaping, etc., he said. It all fits in with
the towns plan.
With the construction of this clinic, the Aurora Vince Lombardi
Cancer Center and the Aurora Womens Center now at the Summit Center
Marketplace in Oconomowoc will move to the new location, as will the
Aurora Wilkinson Clinic in Oconomowoc.
Aurora spokesman Jeff Squire said those three sites will move to
the new location. What the three sites will be used for once vacated
by Aurora has yet to be determined.
Those three sites will relocate, which is not still to say we
would not use that space, Squire said. It is not clear what uses
may be made of those spaces.
This medical center has been in the works for a long time, first
proposed to be built in Oconomowoc. Aurora sued the city in 2001
after the common council voted to block rezoning necessary for
construction on a site northeast of I-94 and Highway 67, now slated
for a regional shopping center.
That lawsuit and another filed against the Waukesha County
board after it voted against the town of Summit hospital proposals
was settled in August with an agreement signed by the town, city,
Pabst Farms and Aurora leaders.
I think it is a fantastic culmination of many years of work and
design, Susa said. I am looking forward to it opening.
Aurora officials said construction will take about two years and
will be complete in 2009.
We are actually looking to start construction now, probably in
June, Squire said.
Site preparation and reconfiguring of the pond on the site is
happening now, and grading will be done in the next few weeks.
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