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Indiana University Health wants to build a $55 million cancer center at its North Hospital campus in Carmel.
The Indianapolis-based health system has filed plans for the two-story, 88,000-square foot building with the Carmel Plan Commission.
Plans call for the cancer center to be constructed just south of the hospital building, in an area now used for parking and green space. The cancer center would be connected to the hospital by a covered walkway.
IU Health said the center would offer a wide range of cancer care, including radiation oncology areas and infusion rooms for chemotherapy patients. It will also offer support programs, such as art, music and yoga. Support services will include a pharmacy and laboratory.
The goal is to offer comprehensive cancer care under one roof for patients on the north side, said Katie McGill, IU Health’s executive director for cancer care. Currently, several oncology clinics in the area offer some services, but the closest IU Health facility that offers radiation treatments is in Fishers, she said.
“Patients don’t want to go to multiple locations, which is the catalyst for us to look at one beautiful building to provide those services,” McGill said.
Officials say they are still determining the number of infusion rooms and the exact number and type of radiation technology.
IU Health is seeking a zoning waiver, because the cancer center will have only two occupied floors. The site’s planned unit development agreement requires the building to have a minimum of three occupied stories.
A 500-space parking area, to be located north of the existing hospital, was approved last summer by Carmel city officials, the petition said.
The North Hospital campus, established in 2003, is bordered by U.S. 31 (Meridian Street) on the east, Spring Mill Road on the west, 116th Street on the south, and a wooded area on the north. The campus now includes the hospital, a central plant, helipad and surface parking.
IU Health officials will present the proposal to the Carmel Plan Commission on Tuesday.
This would be the latest move by health providers in central Indiana to offer new facilities for cancer care on the north side. Last year, Community Health Network opened a $60 million cancer center on its North Campus in the Castleton area to replace a smaller, 27-year-old cancer center nearby that had become too crowded and outdated.
IU Health’s largest cancer center is downtown, a 405,000-square-foot facility at the Simon Cancer Center, which operates as a partnership between the health system and the Indiana University School of Medicine.
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