McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. recently celebrated the topping out of the new 16-story patient care tower at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.
The work is part of BJC HealthCare’s Campus Renewal Project, a long-term initiative that replaces and renovates outdated patient care facilities on the Washington University Medical Campus with an overall focus on improving the patient and family experience.
The new building, known as the Plaza West Tower, will open to patients in fall 2025. The 660,000-square-foot facility will include seven floors of private acute inpatient rooms for heart and vascular patients (224 beds), two floors of intensive care units (56 beds), more than two floors of modern surgical prep and recovery, more than two floor of state-of-the-art medical imaging (MRI, CT, ultrasound, and more) and interventional radiology, as well as two rooftop gardens, a spacious family lounge with business center, kitchenette, quiet rooms and laundry facility.
In addition, the tower will feature a new kitchen and dietary center for patient meals and a new public cafeteria with outdoor dining.
Led by St. Louis-based McCarthy Building Companies and architect of record, CannonDesign, the design-build team’s integrated project delivery capabilities and progressive approach for the inpatient hospital tower is an important component of BJC’s Campus Renewal. The distinguished team also includes BR+A, consulting engineer; Thornton Tomasetti, structural engineer; and Castle Contracting, civil engineer. Landscape design is provided by DTLS.
Considering the project was designed during the height of Covid-19, a pandemic planning process was initiated to evaluate and identify features that needed be incorporated to isolate potentially infectious patients and to accommodate a sudden surge in higher acuity patients. Key areas for this added flexibility include additional negative pressure capabilities and additional ICU capacity and mechanical systems, as well as making all acute care rooms meet code minimum ICU standards.
