Sycamore Mayor Steve Braser is seeking to rally support for a proposed $11 million healthcare development that would modernize the former Sycamore Kindred Hospital building after the property’s former owners signaled opposition to the facility’s revival.

Documents filed with the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board show that developers are seeking state approval for a Certificate of Need application to open a 52-bed long-term acute care facility, called Sycamore Specialty Hospital, at 225 Edward St.

Braser said he hopes proponents of the proposal come to the 11 a.m. June 2 state review board meeting at 201 Broadway Ave. in Normal to voice their support.

In a letter filed with the state review board, Braser made his case for the new facility.

“In addition to its clinical importance, this project will generate meaningful economic benefits for the City of Sycamore and the surrounding region,” Braser wrote. “The development and operation of the hospital will result in the creation of numerous permanent jobs, including clinical, administrative, and support positions.”

Although Scion Health shuttered the Sycamore Kindred Hospital in 2025, documents show officials with the healthcare company have pushed back against the attempt to resurrect the facility.

Joseph Hylak-Reinholtz, a lawyer representing Kindred Healthcare Operating, asked the state health board to prevent a new company from establishing the long-term acute care hospital (sometimes called an LTACH or LTAC) and inpatient rehabilitation facility at the former site.

In a letter to the state review board, he wrote that “Kindred opposes the application for three independent reasons.”

In his first point, Hylak-Reinholtz wrote that the most recent bed inventory published by the review board did not identify a need for additional long-term acute care hospital beds within Health Service Area 1, which includes Sycamore.

“Second, on March 18, 2025, the State Board unanimously approved the discontinuation of Kindred’s LTACH located at the exact same address proposed in the present application, thereby expressly recognizing that LTACH services were not needed at that location in Sycamore,” Hylak-Reinholtz wrote.

He also argued that the application for a permit to operate the facility was “legally defective” because a former legal counsel of Kindred prepared it.

Javon R. Bea, the president and CEO of Mercyhealth, sent a letter to the board on Feb. 17 indicating her support for the project.

“The availability of a long-term acute care hospital in Sycamore would provide an additional option within the region for clinically appropriate patients requiring extended acute level services,” Bea wrote. “Access to these services locally may support continuity of care and allow patients and families to remain closer to their home communities when appropriate.”

James R. Prister, the president and CEO of RML Specialty Hospital – a nonprofit organization that has campuses in Chicago and Hinsdale – wrote to the state review board in opposition to the project.

“Contrary to the Applicants’ assertion, there is a significant overcapacity of LTAC beds in the Chicago metropolitan area today and little to no chance of the current supply/demand imbalance being corrected by market growth,” Prister wrote.

If Sycamore Specialty Hospital is established, developers expect to have 40 long-term acute care beds and 12 inpatient rehabilitation beds available to the public.

The downtown Sycamore building, which has long been a healthcare facility, was acquired by Accelerated Medical Facilities, LLC from Vencor for $313,863, according to board documents. DeKalb County property records list the sale date as May 2, 2025. Board documents show that the project would have $16.7 million in capitalization, $10.7 million of which would go toward the building’s modernization.

In a report penned by the state board’s staff, officials questioned whether there was enough capital left for the project after the renovations.

“While the modernization budget may be sufficient for renovations depending on the facility’s existing condition, the remaining $6 million in working capital ($16.7M - $10.7M), the Staff believes will likely be insufficient to cover the ramp-up phase typical for LTACs, which often operate in the red for the first 12–18 months," board staff wrote.