CROWN POINT | David Ruskowski will take over leadership of Crown Point-based St. Anthony Medical Center effective Feb. 1, the hospital announced Friday.

Current St. Anthony President Seth Warren is leaving to accept the helm of St. James Hospital and Health Centers, which serves Chicago's south and southwest suburbs.

Both medical centers are run by the Sisters of St. Francis Health Services system.

"It was very difficult emotionally to announce it today," Warren said Friday. "I wouldn't be leaving except for the opportunity within the system to turn things around over there."

He said St. James' two-campus health care delivery system has struggled financially recently. It has hospitals in Chicago Heights and Olympia Fields.

Warren leaves behind St. Anthony Medical Center's expanding medical campus system. It is the city's largest employer.

St. Anthony's new medical complex is being built at the southeast corner of the Interstate 65 and U.S. 231 interchange. The $100 million project is expected to bring 90 full-time equivalent jobs by the end of 2009, with an annual payroll of about $4.7 million, according to the Economic Development Commission's report.

The 83,500-square-foot facility will house outpatient services, including an urgent care center, sports medicine institute, physician offices and a medical imaging center.

Ruskowski will make the transition to his new base from St. Anthony Memorial in Michigan City, where he is president.

Prior to that, Ruskowski was the executive vice president and chief operating officer for that campus. He spent the majority of his health care career at St. Francis Hospital and Health Centers, with campuses in Indianapolis, Beech Grove and Mooresville.

"I am very excited about this opportunity and greatly appreciate the support of The Sisters of St. Francis Health Services in this new role," Ruskowski said in a release Friday. "I believe Crown Point and south Lake County are the future of the greatest growth in Northwest Indiana."