Another roadblock was removed from Northwestern's mission to demolish the Prentice Women's Hospital Thursday when two preservation groups dropped their lawsuits regarding the city's decision not to grant the downtown Chicago building landmark status, according to a University press release. In January, Cook County Circuit Judge Neil Cohen gave the groups a 30-day window to present their lawsuit to the Circuit Court. Now that the lawsuit is dropped, the University will work with Ald. Brendan Reilly toward obtaining a demolition permit from the city.
University officials hope to demolish the building, which they deem outdated and unfit for modern research, and build in its place a "state-of-the-art" biomedical facility that will be connected on a floor-by-floor basis to the adjacent Lurie Children's Hospital.