FEBRUARY 1, 2023
Vol. VII No. 5
vfpress.news
Tension rises as Amazon delays opening West Side warehouse
Giant facility on Division will open in 2023 is latest promise By ANKUR SINGH
Contributing Reporter
For the past several months residents of Chicago’s West Side have driven and walked past a massive 140,000 square foot warehouse on the corner of Division and Kostner wondering when the Amazon facility would open and begin offering employment to folks in the neighborhood. When the project was first announced in 2021, Amazon promised that the warehouse would open in 2022 and create nearly 500 jobs. However, that deadline has come and passed as the building sits in a federal economic opportunity zone that makes it eligible for tax breaks. The project has been supported by Alderperson Emma Mitts, whose 37th Ward includes the warehouse. On Thursday, Jan. 19 community members with groups like Black Workers Matter, Get To Work, Teamsters, and Chicago mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson gathered in front of the building demanding answers to the See AMAZON on page 9
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West Sub believer Manoj Prasad says he’s committed to making two hospitals work By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter
A month and a half after Resilience Healthcare took over operations of West Suburban Medical Center and Weiss Memorial Hospital, CEO Manoj Prasad says they are committed to revitalizing the two hospitals. “I’m of the belief that there should be no hospital in our country getting shut down because of financial reasons,” Prasad said. West Suburban, considered a safetynet hospital, and Weiss, which is one
step above safety-net status, have been beleaguered by financial problems in recent years, with the hospitals’ previous owner, Pipeline Health, filing for bankruptcy this past October. The bankruptcy filing was among a series of delays that extended the transition of ownership from Pipeline, which announced it had found a buyer in Resilience last March. The transaction was valued at $92 million with a refund of $12 million going back into the hospitals. “A lot of people were under the impression that in the bankruptcy, we got [the hospitals] for a song,” Prasad said. Resilience paid the full $92 million, according to Prasad, acquiring all the hospitals’ real estate, including their offsite campuses, but also their debts —
to the tune of roughly $81 million. “It’s $81 million and counting,” said Prasad. “There’s still some debt being transferred.” Prasad and his financial partner, Rathnakar R. Patlola, took on the burden of that debt and did so without a lender secured. They’re in the process of looking for lenders, and state funding will be critical in allowing the hospitals to continue caring for patients. While the debt is large, they don’t view the hospitals as a bad investment. They believe it would have been bad not to invest in them. “What was the other option? These two would be shut down,” he said. “We don’t need more closed-down hospitals.” Prasad is committed enough to the two hospitals that he and his family See WEST SUB on page 7