Advocate Christ To Offer Free Visitor Parkiing

Visitor parking at and surface lots and parking garages will be free effective March 1.

The move to all-free parking follows a parking-fee reduction last year—from $8 to $3 a day—after residents complained of hospital visitors parking on side streets. The medical center was still left with a mix of free and paid parking.

The medical center hopes to eliminate confusion as well as improve service to patients and their families with the single parking policy.

“We are eliminating all parking fees for patients and families to ensure them consistent and convenient parking , every lot, every garage, every day,” Kenneth Luckard, president of the medical center, said in a press release. “This is being done in the spirit of our mission of the service to the community.”

The change to all-free parking, and the construction of new parking structures on Kostner Avenue and 93rd Street, and to the corner Kilbourn Avenue and 95th Street, is expected to make parking on the campus much easier and more convenient, Advocate said.

Both structures will be completed and open to the public later this year.

From now on, patients and guests will be able to pull a gate ticket to enter any campus’ designated visitor parking facilities, and then bring the ticket with them into the hospital for validation. Validation stations will be well-marked and located at or near building entry and exit points.

The move to free parking also effectively eliminates one of two ordinances that the Oak Lawn Village Board passed in December,

Whichever fee the medical center chose to implement, the other ordinance would be taken off the books.

Village Manager Larry Deetjen said via e-mail Monday night that Advocate wished to negotiate a community services fee that could generate an additional $700,000 in revenue for the village. Advocate Lutheran General has a similar arrangement in Park Ridge.

Deetjen has been working with Luckard in putting an agreement in place for both the medical center and Advocate’s corporate board in Oak Brook to consider.

“The extensive construction makes parking difficult and Advocate felt the elimination of the fee was the right thing to do at this point in the game.” Deetjen said.