Three Healthcare Construction Trends Shaping Chicago — and the Country
If you want to understand where healthcare construction is headed, look at Chicago. When Richard hosted the Bisnow Chicago Healthcare Summit this fall, the message from the city’s top healthcare leaders, developers, and builders was clear: the way we design, build, and deliver care is changing — fast. Chicago isn’t just part of the conversation; it’s setting the pace. Here are three trends defining healthcare construction right now, with insights straight from the experts driving them.
Retrofitting Is the New Ground-Up
Jill Gerwargis, Vice President of Real Estate at Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, didn’t mince words:
“The new build is retrofitting existing spaces.”
Even as Northwestern breaks ground on its new cancer and oncology tower, Gerwargis said much of their real growth is coming through retrofitting — transforming existing buildings to keep up with demand. The system is also testing new technologies to track movement and high-traffic areas, feeding data back into design and construction strategies to optimize patient flow and staff efficiency.
Across Chicago, we’re seeing the same thing: healthcare providers are upgrading instead of starting from scratch — and the results are faster, greener, and smarter.
Speed & efficiency: Repurposing existing shells accelerates delivery by months.
Sustainability: Adaptive reuse reduces embodied carbon and waste.
Data-driven design: Sensors, tracking tools, and analytics now directly inform retrofit layouts.
National context: According to CBRE’s 2025 Healthcare Real Estate Outlook, medical outpatient buildings (MOBs) are now among the most active sectors for adaptive reuse nationwide. BD+C’s 2025 Healthcare Report puts healthcare construction spending near $70 billion, with a growing share focused on renovation and modernization projects over new hospitals.
At Richard, we treat adaptive reuse as an innovation platform. Before we touch a wall, we analyze data — energy loads, patient flow, and neighborhood demographics — to make every square foot count. The goal isn’t just to reuse space, but to reimagine how it works.
Healthcare Is Moving Closer to Home
“Ten years ago, an ACL surgery meant an overnight stay,” said Brian Fry, Senior Vice President at Ventas. “Today, patients are home by dinner — and the procedure might take place five miles from their house.”
That shift — from centralized hospital care to community-based outpatient and ambulatory centers — is redefining healthcare real estate. Across the Midwest and Sun Belt, systems are expanding access points, not just campuses.
Across the industry, the numbers tell a clear story:
JLL forecasts double-digit growth in outpatient volume through 2030.
CBRE reports that medical outpatient buildings are seeing record-low vacancies.
According to Definitive Healthcare’s 2025 CON/RFP data, Ohio is among the top states in healthcare construction activity, while Arizona and some Midwest regions are emerging with early stage or growing activity in CON and RFP filings.
It’s not just a Chicago story — it’s a national one.
At Richard, we’re delivering modular outpatient and ambulatory facilities that can scale by community need. A 10,000-square-foot rural clinic and a 100,000-square-foot suburban outpatient center might look different on paper, but they share a common mission: bring care closer, faster, and smarter.
Collaboration Is the Future of Healthcare Construction
The strongest message from the summit? Partnership is everything.
From universities to developers to hospitals, the most successful projects are the ones built by coalitions — not silos.
Dr. Michele Nealon, President of The Chicago School, highlighted this perfectly. The school is developing Chicago’s first new medical school in over 100 years — the Illinois College of Osteopathic Medicine, a project designed to tackle the state’s physician shortage and advance behavioral health education. “This kind of innovation only happens,” Dr. Nealon said, “when every partner — from the city to the educators to the healthcare providers — works together from the start.”
That spirit of partnership was echoed by Lilian Yool of The Habitat Company, who shared one of the summit’s most human stories. Her team’s groundbreaking partnership with Mt. Sinai Hospital pairs healthcare and housing — affordable multifamily apartments built across the street from the hospital. Nurses have literally been known to walk cancer patients home after treatment.
And Marco Capicchioni, Vice President of UChicago Medicine, distilled it best:
“If you want a healthcare project to succeed, invite everyone to the table early — the city, the community, developers, educators. When we plan together, we create facilities that heal and uplift entire neighborhoods.”
At Richard, that’s our playbook. We’ve built our delivery model around transparency, early alignment, and shared purpose — from integrated project delivery (IPD) to “big room” collaboration sessions that unite design, construction, and end users in real time.
Because when everyone’s aligned on purpose, the project moves faster — and heals deeper.
Hot Take: Chicago is a Trendsetter
What we heard at the Bisnow Healthcare Summit isn’t just insight — it’s a preview.
Chicago is a hot spot for some of the brightest minds in healthcare and real estate in the country, which solidifies these three trends happening across the U.S.
Retrofitting as innovation — turning old spaces into high-performing assets.
Decentralized care — bringing medicine into the neighborhoods that need it most.
Partnership-driven development — building ecosystems, not just structures.
These trends are already expanding beyond Illinois. We’re seeing growth across the rural Midwest and the US where the demand for care is rising and construction costs are manageable.
Chicago’s position among the nation’s top healthcare markets is no accident — it’s home to world-class health systems, a powerhouse AEC community, and one of the most sophisticated real estate ecosystems in the country. That combination made the Bisnow Summit a magnet for over 200 industry leaders — and it’s why the conversations and trends sparked at this event are what’s shaping healthcare construction across the country.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Colleen Richardson is the Head of Marketing at Richard, where she leads strategy, brand storytelling and client relationships that drive growth. With 20 years of experience in marketing and business strategy for leading manufacturing and marine organizations, she brings a performance-driven, operations-minded approach to the construction industry.
Colleen is focused on strengthening Richard’s national presence by connecting brand purpose with business growth — proving that when strategy meets execution, builders can lead markets and shape communities.