David Lehman, president of Seay and Thomas, Inc. at 333 N. Michigan Ave. and Alex Bernhardt of Bernhardt Associates, 1550 W. Carroll St., the new owners of the Ravenswood campus, have been making the rounds of community groups and concerned citizens to dispel rumors that the hospital will become condos.
"We are not developers," David Lehman told Inside. "We were surprised to learn that Advocate was getting rid of paying tenants that we would like to stay." Lehman and Bernhardt did not rule out the possible consideration of a different use of the property but "only after a discovery period that would prove no other profitable alternative were available," Lehman added. " We want tenants to stay and there will be no reason we will want them to leave unless our investors can't make a profit."
"I live in the neighborhood," Bernhardt said, "and I know the concern the community has about their hospital." Bernhardt added that they have purchased parts of Weiss Memorial Hospital and have leased it back to them. "We are not hospital administrators so it seemed natural for someone else to do that. It has proved profitable so we have hopes for Ravenswood."
"They have certainly done their homework," said Victoria Khamis of UPRAVE, an Uptown and Ravenswood community organization. "And they are going about things in the right way but I can't believe them until I see what they do. The purchase won't close for another two months so right now I am listening but I haven't broken bread with them."
Khamis seems to personify community feelings that have gone from acceptance of Advocate's purchase two years ago to a cynical disbelief about any plans anyone might express for the property.
"The media is focused on the sale of Ravenswood Medical Center and it does not report that we are open and servicing our patients," said Terry Sukenik, M.D., president of the Ravenswood Medical Professional Group (RMPG). "Last month we resorted to printing flyers that we handed out to our patients." Sukenik was referring to Advocate's April announcement that the residential building will be closing at the end of June and that all tenants were asked to "Secure alternate housing arrangements."
"These Advocate announcements in the last two years about the uncertainty of the future have caused us considerable distress and I'm sure some loss of patients. Now, I am hopeful we can stabilize the situation and continue to service the community," Sukenik told Inside "The closing is still in the future so nothing can be finalized."
The RMPG is a group of medical professionals that rent office space in the building at Wilson and Damen avenues. "I really didn't believe that Advocate would want us to leave after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to remodel the facilities for us," Sukenik said. "So I am relieved to know the new owners want us to stay."
Advocate leased the building to the doctors group until 2005. Lawyers for RMPG said Advocate would have a difficult time getting out of the lease, but business during that time might become adversarial if new owners did not want the group to stay. Advocate's disinvestment of the property was done to offer a prospective buyer as many options and enticements as possible by vacating the buildings.
The systems of the Professional Building are independent of the other buildings on the campus. This makes it possible to consider running the building independently regardless of what happens to the other buildings.
The RMPG has contacted Prime Care, a Chicago company that specializes in buying and managing health care facilities. "They bid on other Advocate facilities and they have a good reputation. They expressed an interest in buying the property outright and offered our members the possibility to invest. The doctors I represent are not in a position, financially or professionally, to manage the building because that is not our business. If all the parties can come to an agreement on price and we have access to parking, we might finally, after two years of insecurity, have our problems solved," Sukenik said.
How might local residents respond if the new owners eventually call the property unprofitable and seek a rezoning of the property from a medical facility to residential? "I'll say to them, tough luck brother you bought the property with your eyes wide open and there's no way we are going to accept rezoning," khamis said.
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