Work will begin to remove the old water tower, Wendell Johnson building in July
Visible construction on UI Health Care’s university campus is part of the long-term planning to meet patient needs for decades to come.
Employees, patients, and visitors heading to Hawkins Drive this summer should expect to see changes near the main entrance. Crews will begin removing the old water tower and working on the Wendell Johnson building in July.
What's Changing?
Removal of the old water tower
Preparations to remove the water tower on Hawkins Drive — that is no longer in use — will begin on July 6 and continue during weekends through the end of August.
The tower will be removed now that a new water tower in Parking Lot 75 is fully serving our university campus and the broader university. This upgraded infrastructure provides a significant increase in water storage capacity and reliability to meet campus and health care demands.
Keeping the inactive tower in place would create ongoing safety and regulatory concerns, including risks associated with stagnant water, aging electrical infrastructure, and maintenance requirements. Removing it now helps reduce those risks while avoiding future costs tied to monitoring, repairs, and more complex removal in the future.
The water tower will be safely dismantled in sections and lowered piece by piece using a crane and specialized equipment. This work is not anticipated to impede patient care operations, and temporary access ways will be created for patients and employees to safely navigate around the site to the hospital’s main entrance.
Landscaping adjustments at the water tower site, including replanting or removing several trees, have been evaluated in coordination with the University Arborist to maintain the long-term health and sustainability of campus green spaces.
Removal of Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center building
Preparations to take down the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center will run from July 6 into the spring of 2027. Clinical services at this location have already moved to the Health Sciences Academic Building (HSAB) located on the corner of South Grand and Melrose Avenues.
Removing the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center building will eliminate the steep operational costs of an aging building and create opportunities for future campus needs.
What will the new space look like?
The newly available space will be transformed into a fully restored, open lawn designed to serve patients, visitors, and employees moving through this part of campus. It will be a welcoming front landscape that reflects the stature of a flagship academic medical center.
The space will be thoughtfully designed for efficient pedestrian traffic, improving how people move to and from the university campus main entrance.
The removal of the water tower and the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center building also remains essential to creating the space and flexibility needed for future capital projects on the university campus.