PEORIA, Ill. – The head of one division of OSF HealthCare says it may look like there’s still a lot of work to be done, but it’s still expected that their new headquarters at Adams and Fulton will be ready in January.
CEO of Integrated Solutions for OSF, Jim Mormann, says COVID-19 did present problems, but not many.
“The good news is we were able to continue to work with construction,” said Mormann. “It put a lot of pressure on the PointCore [Construction] team to make sure that we were able to working closely with our business partners.”
Mormann says the delivery of windows was one of the biggest delays, along with communications involving the National Park Service given the historical nature of the structure.
Mormann gave the media a tour of the building at Adams and Fulton, and it looked like a lot was still incomplete.
“The heavy construction activity always is what takes the longest,” said Mormann. “After you get past all your major sub-traits or sub-contractor traits that are out there, things progress pretty quickly.”
Mormann says a lot of the work has been restoring the former Chase Bank building, also a former department store among other things, to a 1950’s art deco style, including restoring a number of building columns.
OSF is, you might say, making a statement about the future of downtown Peoria. Mormann says one of the ways that’s being done, is by what the building WON’T have for the 500 employees and any from out of town who may travel there for work.
“We intentionally made a decision not to put a cafeteria in the building,” said Mormann. “We do have a break area in our basement. But we intentionally felt it was important for our mission partners to get out in the community as well, and to make sure we could take advantage of the community.”
That will be made easier by two restaurants we reported Tuesday that will locate on the ground floor of the former Chase Bank Building.
The $135 million project is largely being paid for with federal and state tax credits.
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