A federally qualified health center serving Chicago’s south side recently expanded to a seventh location that will accommodate 10,000 new patient visits annually. Friend Family Health Center’s new location in the city’s Woodlawn neighborhood offers family medicine, women’s health, pediatrics, and behavioral health services.
IFF was hired by Friend Family Health Center to help with site selection and then stayed on as project manager for the $1 million construction project, which transformed a 3,650-square-foot commercial space into a medical site complete with 10 exam rooms. IFF’s real estate team helped reduce construction time by one-third by selecting readily available building materials and negotiating with equipment vendors for early delivery. IFF also provided financing to compliment agency funding and federal grants.
“This is a great example of how IFF helps see a project through from start to finish,” says Dominic LoGalbo, a member of IFF’s real estate team who served as the owner’s representative for the project. “We were a one-stop-shop for site selection, construction management, and lending.”
The initial site selection project was supported by a special grant from the Polk Bros. Foundation designed to assist grantees that are planning for new or renovated space. Thanks to the grant, IFF is able to offer some of its affordable consulting services at an even lower cost.
Friend Family Health Center is a mainstay in the community, with roots going back to the 1930s and affiliations with major south side institutions such as the University of Chicago Hospital. It helps ensure that medically underserved and low-income individuals have access to high-quality health services – with a goal to alleviate disparities in health care outcomes.