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Near West Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin has been admiring the Beaux Arts classicism of the old Cook County Hospital ever since his days as a young lawyer visiting patients and clients at the shuttered Near West Side building. And in spite of Cook County President John Stroger’s longtime desire to demolish the building, Suffredin is confident that he now has the support of enough commissioners to start the ball rolling on rehabbing the gutted, 92-year-old edifice during the next budget cycle. With any luck, Suffredin says, construction on a reconfigured building with residential and office space could start by next fall. In the coming weeks, Suffredin intends to tack on an amendment to the Cook County budget that would allocate funding for a master plan of the Cook County Hospital, which he believes will cost under $1 million. By the middle of February, Suffredin hopes to have the amendment approved, and by June, he hopes the county will be reaching out to developers. “You could clearly be doing this by the end of this year,” Suffredin said last week. “There’s not much we have to do. ... What we need to do is build a fire under somebody.” And despite Stroger’s opposition, Suffredin believes the makeover could be financed through the $30 million that has already been allocated for demolition costs. “That money and a private developer is all that’s necessary,” Suffredin said. While Suffredin believes that he has the votes necessary on the 18-member Cook County board, at least one preservation advocate is less certain. Mike Moran, the vice president of Preservation Chicago, believes that while Stroger does not have the support to order the demolition of the building, any attempt to save the old hospital will likely be pushed aside while the Cook County Board debates a series of tax hikes scheduled to go in effect this year. “Until the current budget fight is over, I don’t think we’re going to see any movement about the hospital,” Moran said. “... If the commissioners tried to ram it down Stroger’s throat he would likely find some way to sabotage the process.” Suffredin, Moran, and other preservation advocates say the building’s functional value has helped change the nature of debate about whether or not to raze the Near West Side landmark. Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois President David Bahlman said this week that Mike LeMont, the director of capital planning for Cook County, has been promising to deliver an analysis of the county’s need for medical office space for the last 18 months. LeMont was unavailable for comment this week, but Bahlman claimed that the county needs roughly 250,000 square feet of office space to supplement the new Stroger Hospital. “The message now for Stroger is clear that the building has to be rehabbed, because of the county’s own needs for office space,” Bahlman said. “ ... The resistance to rehabbing the building is gone.” If Suffredin is able to garner enough votes to commission a master plan, the next step would be crafting the building’s transformation. Advocates of preservation have called for a multi-use building that could include doctor’s offices and a few hundred residences for medical district employees and others. For the first floors of the building, Suffredin envisions a retail center with restaurants and possibly a drug store to serve the Near West Side’s expanding population. The interior of the building is completely gutted and would be relatively easy for a developer to convert, Suffredin said. “The building is as solid as it comes,” Suffredin said. “The load bearing is all on the outer walls. You can clear everything out but the elevator shafts.” Also at issue would be whether to preserve the entirety of the building, or demolish a handful of wings that were tacked on after the hospital’s initial construction. While Bahlman is supportive of keeping the entire structure, he says financial pressures may force the county to demolish the wings. “We would love to see the two outer wings preserved,” Bahlman said. “ From a functional and economic point of view, the county might wish to save the original structure. ... It’s a big building and we almost lost it. We’d like to preserve as much as we can. We have to be realistic about the economic realities.” Eventually, the master planners will also likely decide whether the rehab project will be carried out by the county or by private developers. Kenard Corp. President Harold Lichterman, who redeveloped Mother Cabrini Hospital in Little Italy, had expressed interest in redeveloping the hospital in 2003. Lichterman said this week that unless the county eventually submits a request for proposals to all interested developers, he would not be interested in coming forth with any plans of his own. Three developers did submit plans of their own two years ago. “If they did an RFP, I would [submit a plan],” Lichterman said. “Without an RFP I’m not interested.” Beyond the nuts and bolts of restoration, Suffredin and other preservation supporters are passionate about what they describe as a singular West Side landmark that also served as a respite of sorts for millions of sick and primarily impoverished Chicagoans for nearly a century. “If you go to the West Side, the Jane Addams Hull House and this building are the only two buildings that have received every generation,” Suffredin said. “Every ethnic group has gone through that hospital building. You need to honor all those people that have done it by reusing that building,” he added.