One of the largest projects in University of Iowa history is facing significant delays while several healthcare projects are on hold.
Despite the Iowa Board of Regents approving the “enabling work” for UI Health Care’s new $1.5B inpatient tower, UI Health Care is “adjusting” the project’s timeline due to federal health care-related budget cuts.
Over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office estimates a 10-year reduction of more than $1 trillion for health care. Iowa faces an expected $9.5 billion reduction, according to a KFF analysis of the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) latest cost estimate, which UI Health Care says directly impacts several scheduled projects.
While UI Health Care said they are in a “more stable financial position than many other academic health care systems across the country,” the projects must be altered to continue the hospital’s mission of “patient care, medical education, and biomedical research.”
“We are taking time to make decisions about our facility projects so we have in mind the best outcomes for the long-term health and well-being of Iowans, our mission of patient care, education, and research, and our employees,” said Denise Jamieson, MD, MPH, University of Iowa vice president for medical affairs and the Tyrone D. Artz Dean of the Carver College of Medicine, in a news release.
UI Health Care, with help from the University of Iowa and the Iowa Board of Regents, has restructured its capital plan.
Here are what projects are being affected:
Construction of Jacobsen tower, nearby demolitions postponed
Construction of the 842,000-square-foot Jacobson tower, anchored by a $70 million gift from the Richard O. Jacobson Foundation, was expected to begin this year and finished by 2030.
The Iowa Board of Regents initially approved $72.5 million for “early work” on the tower, which included raising a trio of nearby structures.
UI Health Care has not released a new timeline for the tower, nor did they explicitly explain how expected budget cuts impact the project as a whole.
Jacobson, a University of Iowa alumnus, supported multiple different programs at the school, including the Iowa Reading Research Center, the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center in the Henry B. Tippie College of Business, and Hawkeye athletics.
The estimated $1.5 billion tower is meant to address “longterm access,” which will be build “adjacent” to the main UI Health Care hospital on the west side of campus. The facility will “benefit patients who require complex and specialty care with more private rooms for better healing, and access to a wide range of specialists,” according to UI Health Care.
UI halts razing of speech and hearing center and parking ramp
The UI planned to raze three structures in the tower’s “footprint,” including the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center, Hospital Parking Ramp 1, and the water tower on Hawkins Drive. Demolition of the speech center and the parking ramp have been paused, while destruction of the water tower remains on schedule.
Hospital Parking Ramp 1 will stay open and though the physical building of the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center will remain for the immediate future, its services will relocate to the new Health Sciences Academic Building as initially planned.
Pre-planned work on the UIHC hospital entrance and skywalk realignment is also on hold.
“As more Iowans seek UI Health Care for their care, we remain committed to creating access wherever we can,” said Brad Haws, MBA, chief executive officer of the clinical enterprise and associate vice president of UI Health Care, in a news release. “…While projects may not be on the same timeframe or scope as originally planned, we will do the best we can with the resources available to us.”
Extenstion of Newton Road, water tower demolition will proceed
Work extending Newton Road to the main UI Health Care campus will continue, expected to be finished by the end of the year. The UI’s new water tower near Carver-Hawkeye Arena is complete. The university will remove the smaller Tiger-Hawk adorned water tower that overlooks nearby Kinnic Stadium, with work set to begin this fall.
At the June Board of Regents meeting, Haws, UIHC officials, and board members discussed the impending cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, expressing concern whether the projects should continue on the proposed timeline.
Haws said the UI will need to have an “honest conversation about the feasibility of the entire project.”
“By November, hopefully, we’ll know more about what’s happening with the federal funding and those kinds of things, and we’ll have to sit down with this group and have a really honest conversation about the feasibility of the entire project and whether that still fits within our capital, capital plans, and affordability,” Haws said.
UI Remains committed to new cancer research facility
UI Health Care plans to still construct a new, state-of-the-art cancer research facility at the Carver College of Medicine, which was approved at the September 2024 Board of Regents meeting.
The new facility will focus on cancer research, with funding coming from gifts, university funds, and hospital funds.
The UI said the new cancer center will increase the ability to “perform state-of-the-art cancer-themed research,” and remain “competitive in both recruitment and retention of world-class faculty,” according to Board Documents.
“This remains a priority given Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center’s pivotal role as the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Iowa,” UI Health Care said in a news release. “UI is a leader in achieving the state’s high cancer survival rates and is a vital player in tackling Iowa’s fastest-growing rates of new cancers in the country.”
The university has not released a cost estimate, though the school may need to raze either the Medical Education Building or Westlawn to make room. Both buildings were identified as facilities that need razed in the University of Iowa’s 10-year facilities master plan because of “extensive deferred maintenance needs and costs.”
Jessica Rish is an entertainment, dining and education reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. She can be reached at JRish@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rishjessica_
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Construction of UI Health Care’s $1.5B inpatient tower postponed, school cites funding cuts
Reporting by Jessica Rish, Iowa City Press-Citizen / Iowa City Press-Citizen
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