The National Trust Community Investment Corporation (NTCIC) announces the successful financial closing of the historic former Copley Memorial Hospital campus in Aurora, IL. The $117.6 million revitalization efforts, led by Fox Valley Developers, will transform the Copley Memorial Hospital campus into a center for in-demand and needed supportive housing, healthcare, and other services to the heart of Aurora’s Bardwell neighborhood.
“We are grateful for dedicated partners that continued to find solutions to make this project work,” said Kathleen Galvan, Senior Project Manager for NTCIC. “I believe the time dedicated to this endeavor will be worth the incredible impacts that this project will have for Aurora and the individuals that will reside on the Avalon Heights campus.”
Originally known as the Aurora City Hospital, the building was constructed in 1888 with a capacity of 25 beds. Through additional expansions over nearly 90 years, the renamed Copley Memorial Hospital grew to nine buildings and over 300 thousand square feet at its peak.
Copley Memorial Hospital was closed in 1995 and hospital services were moved into a new building in southeast Aurora. Since then, the property has sat vacant for decades suffering from extreme decay and vandalism while leaving the surrounding community devoid of healthcare and related services.
Three of the historic buildings will become a new 99-unit senior housing facility with a mixture of independent, assisted living, and memory care units, as well as a 53-unit independent apartment community (IAC) for adults with cognitive and developmental disabilities. Additional commercial space will support various social service and healthcare tenants, including an urgent care center, a nonprofit early childhood and family development organization, and medical office space.
Restoration efforts will create an estimated 500 construction jobs and, once complete, the new tenants and living facilities will support an estimated 225 permanent jobs.
NTCIC facilitated the equity investment in the more than $18 million in federal Historic Tax Credits (HTC) generated by the preservation efforts. The project also utilized state HTC equity from Enhanced Capital, as well as additional state and federal programs, including the PACE Program. The Project is expected to complete construction late next year.
Fox Valley Developers is an Aurora-Centric group of business leaders who have come together with the shared purpose of preserving, restoring, and repurposing the historic campus to transform and renew the Bardwell neighborhood.