Quantum Corridor seeks former hospital for tech center
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The former Franciscan Health Hammond hospital could get new life as a technology center designed for quantum computing.
Our partners at The Times of Northwest Indiana report Quantum Corridor Inc. is looking to partner with Purdue University Northwest on the project that could bring multiple high-tech companies to downtown Hammond.
Quantum Corridor is an Indianapolis-based company looking to drive business adoption of quantum computing in the Midwest by building a fiber-optic network it says would be 1,000 times faster than traditional internet networks.
In November, the company completed a test of a network transmission between the Digital Crossroads data center in Hammond and the Chicago ORD 10 Data Center that CEO Tom Dakich says reached speeds 500 times faster than the blink of an eye.
Dakich says establishing a tech center in the hospital, which closed at the end of 2022, would bring big benefits to the city.
“It could spur massive amounts of development,” Dakich told The Times. “It could bring scientists and researchers to northwest Indiana. It could bring big ideas to life.”
Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott agreed, saying the project would make Hammond one of the few places in the country with access to quantum computing capabilities.
Both the city and Quantum Corridor have been in talks with Purdue Northwest about the project, the publication said. The university is planning to establish what it’s calling the Roberts Impact Lab, which spur economic development, including incubating new businesses, scaling existing businesses, and providing space for development and testing.
Purdue Northwest received $5 million in Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative, or READI, funds, as well as a $3 million gift from alumnus David Roberts and wife, Susan, for the impact lab, though it’s unclear where the lab will be established.
Dakich said with the speeds created by the Quantum Corridor network, which will eventually extend along the Indiana Toll Road to the Ohio state line, the impact lab would have the kind of computing power sought by companies in a number of areas, including artificial intelligence and biotechnology.
“It would be equipment they couldn’t afford that’s ridiculously, astronomically expensive,” Dakich told the publication. “We want to be a national player. We want lab equipment that can do massive computations for research for biotech or other areas. It could bring science and firms that otherwise wouldn’t come to northwest Indiana. It would make northwest Indiana better.”
Franciscan Health has begun demolition of the hospital, but the facility’s former cancer center will remain, which is where the impact lab would be located. McDermott called the potential for the tech center a chance to “make lemons into lemonade” following the hospital’s closure.
However, the Mishawaka-based health system says no decisions have been made regarding the future use of the property.
“Franciscan Alliance has been in discussions with multiple organizations regarding potential future uses for the site, which remains solely owned by Franciscan Alliance,” the health system said in a statement to Inside INdiana Business. “While discussions are ongoing, no plans have been finalized with any entities – public or private – regarding a transfer of ownership of the property.”
You can read more about the project from Joseph S. Pete at The Times of Northwest Indiana by clicking here.