Crain’s Headlines: 4 South Side Hospitals Agree to Merge


Four financially struggling hospitals on Chicago’s South Side have agreed to merge.

Advocate Trinity Hospital, Mercy Hospital & Medical Center, South Shore Hospital and St. Bernard Hospital plan to create a single system with one leadership team. Crain’s reported late last year that a deal was in the works.

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With an estimated $1.1 billion investment—including private donations and government dollars—the plan is to build at least one new hospital and open up to six new community health centers.

The combination aims to bolster the precarious finances of the safety-net hospitals that treat large numbers of low-income patients on Medicaid.

In other Chicago-area business news:

Two major tenants are expanding their footprints at the former Montgomery Ward catalog warehouse that’s been home for years to the headquarters of Groupon.

The Big Ten Network and chocolate maker Barry Callebaut have both signed long-term leases to add to their space at 600 W. Chicago Ave.

The deals come as the building’s owner, Sterling Bay, finishes a $20 million series of improvements to the landmark building along the North Branch of the Chicago River.

And finally, Cresco Labs, one of the largest operators in the legal marijuana space, is borrowing up to $200 million to fuel a major expansion. 

The proceeds from the loan will be used to fund the expansion of operations in Illinois, and will also cover closing and integration costs associated with pending acquisitions in Illinois and elsewhere. Cresco currently has licenses to sell recreational and medical marijuana in 11 states.


Crain’s Headlines is a joint production between WTTW and Crain’s Chicago Business. It airs every Monday through Thursday on the WTTW News program “Chicago Tonight.” 


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