A new patient care tower is one of several major projects aimed at transforming UI Health Care’s ability to care for Iowans in future decades and generations. Several projects are required to ‘enable’ construction of the tower.

Because the future patient care tower will be built on the footprint of existing Hospital Parking Ramp 1 and the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center, several “enabling” projects are required to make way for the tower.   

Much progress has been made on several of these projects since we first announced plans to build the new tower.  

Newton Road connector project

Construction on a brand-new road connecting Newton Road and the fountain entrance at university campus is well underway. The road is being built between Hospital Parking Ramp 1 and the General Hospital pavilion and will include an improved bus stop and a new roundabout. 

The first phase of the project, which included some grading of the area and installation of barriers, is complete. 

Construction of the road is expected to be complete in early 2025, with final seeding and landscaping completed in the spring as the weather permits. 

Hawkeye Parking Ramp

A 985-space, five-level parking ramp is under construction on a portion of Parking Lot 43 north of Kinnick Stadium. This ramp will replace the aging Hospital Ramp 1 which will be torn down to make way for the inpatient tower and will create additional parking capacity.

A rendering of the future Hawkeye Parking Ramp.
Construction continues on the new Hawkeye Parking Ramp.
The red arrow indicates Parking Ramp 1 which will be removed to make way for the new inpatient tower.

Health Sciences Academic Building

Construction of the new Health Sciences Academic Building is well underway at South Grand and Melrose avenues, just south of Slater Residence Hall and across from the Field House parking lot. The new academic building will house the Communication Sciences and Disorders program, which will be displaced when its current home in the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center on Hawkins Drive is removed to make way for the patient care tower. The fast-growing Health and Human Physiology department, and the Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences department will also occupy the new academic building.

Signatures on the final beam to be placed in the new Health Sciences Academic Building.
Event attendees watch as the final beam is placed in the construction of the new Health Sciences Academic Building.

Water Tower

Preparations have been underway to construct a new water tower northwest of the football practice fields that will increase the amount of water storage for campus.

In the coming weeks, construction will become more visible as the tower is erected. Once the project is complete in spring 2025, the current tower located between Kinnick Stadium and the hospital at 200 Hawkins Drive will be removed.

A rendering of the future water tower. Credit: HR Green.
A rendering of the future water tower on university campus. Credit: HR Green.

About the new patient care tower

The new patient care tower and adjacent multi-story concourse will create a welcoming front door to UI Health Care's university campus and is expected to include features such as:

  • New entrances to the hospital for patients, staff, and other visitors.
  • Space for ancillary patient care services, such as pathology, radiology, and pharmacy.
  • An inpatient surgery platform with multiple operating rooms.
  • Multiple floors of inpatient units with single-occupancy rooms (48 beds per floor, each composed of two 24-bed units).
  • Public amenity space with full-glass views of Kinnick Stadium and the surrounding Iowa City landscape.

Made possible in part by a $70 million gift from the Richard O. Jacobson Foundation, the tower also will be funded by patient revenue.