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.