Two Chicago Area Hospitals Sell For $92M

Two Chicago-area hospital properties will be sold for $92 million in a healthcare management partnership that gained approval from state regulators last week.

New Jersey business executive Reddy Rathnakar Patlola’s Ramco Healthcare Holdings, LLC will purchase the real estate associated with Weiss Memorial Hospital on the city’s North Side and West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park and enter into a long-term lease with Michigan-based Resilience Healthcare, which will run the facilities’ operations.

The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board granted the deal regulatory approval on June 7.

Patlola told the board that he believes “healthcare is a human right” and that he is excited to work with Resilience Healthcare CEO Manoj Prasad in ensuring continued access to healthcare for the community, Ramco said in a press release.

Patlola also said he plans to invest in building infrastructure and market available office space to local physician practices.

The Los Angeles-based Pipeline Health System is selling the properties, having owned them since 2019, and plans to close the deal in the coming weeks, Ramco said.

The sale includes Weiss’ medical office building and West Suburban’s River Forest Campus facilities, according to the hospitals.

Pipeline has poured more than $60 million into the two hospitals since acquiring them in 2019, funding improved facilities, enhanced technology and expanded clinical programs, the hospitals said.

The company came under scrutiny after the closure of Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park, soon after that deal was closed, when it said at the time of the sale it had no plans to close the facility, Crain’s reported.

Crain’s was the first to report that Pipeline intended to sell their two remaining Illinois properties. The hospitals announced on March 10 that Pipeline had executed a letter of intent to sell the facilities to the healthcare management group.

West Suburban serves predominantly Black patients and residents of the Austin community of Chicago’s West Side, while Weiss serves a high proportion of Medicaid patients in the Uptown community on the city’s North Side.

Both hospitals’ CEOs said they will stay in place through the transition.