SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital will mark a significant construction milestone on April 6, 2026, with a topping out ceremony celebrating the placement of the final structural beam atop its new 14-story, 200-plus-bed, state-of-the-art pediatric hospital. The new $600 million, 500,000-square-foot facility is necessary to replace the hospital’s 70-year-old location about a half-mile south, and is slated to open in 2027. The project’s design-build team includes St. Louis-based construction manager McCarthy Building Companies, Dallas-based architecture and design firm HKS Inc., and St. Louis-based planning and design firm The Lawrence Group. The new facility will incorporate advanced technology, expanded specialty units and a healing-focused environment, with plans calling for a larger pediatric intensive care unit, new bone marrow transplant unit, increased operating room capacity, a dedicated dialysis unit, and private, light-filled NICU, PICU and CVICU spaces. The topping out also marked a significant workforce milestone, with more than 700,000 work hours completed to date by the design-build team, reflecting the scale, complexity and collaborative effort required to bring the project to this point. Cardinal Glennon originally opened in 1956 as one of the country’s first hospitals dedicated to caring for children, and continues to serve as a teaching hospital for students at the St. Louis University School of Medicine.
The Cardinal Glennon topping out is the kind of milestone that the St. Louis healthcare construction market needed, not just symbolically but structurally. Missouri’s pediatric healthcare infrastructure has been under investment pressure for years, and Cardinal Glennon has historically served a disproportionate share of the region’s most complex and medically vulnerable paediatric cases, including children from lower-income households who rely on Medicaid coverage and have limited access to alternative facilities. Replacing a 70-year-old building is, in itself, a statement about deferred investment in public-serving healthcare infrastructure. The clinical programme of the new facility, anchored by expanded intensive care, dedicated bone marrow transplant capacity and a dialysis unit for younger patients, reflects exactly the kinds of sub-specialties where physical space and modern infrastructure directly determine clinical outcomes.
Comparable paediatric hospital builds in the Midwest, including the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital expansion in Chicago and the Nationwide Children’s Hospital projects in Columbus, have demonstrated that new purpose-built paediatric environments consistently outperform legacy facilities on patient satisfaction, infection rates and staff retention. This broader trend of hospital reinvestment is also visible elsewhere in Missouri, including the recently opened US$100 million Citizens Memorial Hospital expansion project, highlighting how healthcare providers across the state are scaling up facilities to meet rising regional demand and modern care standards. What makes the Cardinal Glennon project notable alongside those precedents is the funding model: roughly one-quarter of the project’s cost comes from the Cardinal Glennon Children’s Foundation, which has already secured close to $135 million in private donor and corporate commitments toward a $150 million fundraising goal, meaning this is not purely a capital-budget hospital build but a hybrid public-private faith-based philanthropic investment in a Catholic not-for-profit system. That distinction matters for sustainability, because hospitals that build community financial ownership into their capital programmes tend to carry stronger long-term political and community support through the operational phases that follow delivery.
Clinical Programme, Structural Milestone and Design Intent
- 14-story replacement pediatric hospital replacing a 1956-era facility located approximately half a mile south on South Grand Boulevard
- 200-plus beds across expanded inpatient and specialty units
- Topping out achieved April 6, 2026: final structural beam placed, completing the building’s full structural skeleton
- More than 700,000 work hours logged by the design-build team at topping out milestone
- Expanded PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit): larger footprint with private, light-filled patient spaces
- New NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit): private rooms designed around family-centred care principles
- CVICU (Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit): dedicated private spaces integrated into the clinical programme
- New bone marrow transplant unit: dedicated specialty service added to the expanded facility
- Dedicated dialysis unit for paediatric patients
- Increased operating room capacity integrated into the surgical suite design
- Education and research spaces embedded in the facility to support Saint Louis University School of Medicine teaching mission
- Healing-focused design intent: natural light, warmth and child-centred spatial experience prioritised throughout
- Ceremony held at 920 South Spring Avenue, directly across from the construction site
Project Fact Sheet
- Project Name: New SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital
- Owner/Operator: SSM Health (Catholic, not-for-profit integrated health system)
- Location: Grand Boulevard and Chouteau Avenue, South St. Louis, Missouri (replacing original 1956 facility on South Grand Boulevard)
- Project Value: $600 million (reported total)
- Gross Floor Area: 500,000 square feet
- Storeys: 14
- Beds: 200-plus (inpatient and specialty)
- Project Type: Replacement paediatric hospital (design-build)
- Construction Manager: McCarthy Building Companies (St. Louis-based)
- Architect of Record: HKS Inc. (Dallas, Texas)
- Planning and Design Consultant: The Lawrence Group (St. Louis, Missouri)
- Topping Out Date: April 6, 2026
- Projected Opening: Late 2027
- Work Hours Completed at Topping Out: more than 700,000
- Funding Structure: Majority from SSM Health capital; approximately 25% from Cardinal Glennon Children’s Foundation philanthropic campaign (target: $150 million; secured to date: approximately $135 million)
- Teaching Affiliation: Saint Louis University School of Medicine
- SSM Health System Footprint: care delivery sites across Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma and Wisconsin; approximately 40,000 team members and 15,000 providers
Project Team
- Owner/Client: SSM Health — a Catholic, not-for-profit, fully integrated health system headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, operating hospitals, physician offices, outpatient and virtual care, senior care, and home care and hospice services across Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma and Wisconsin
- Chief Executive Officer, SSM Health: Laura S. Kaiser, FACHE — delivered remarks at the topping out ceremony and serves as the executive sponsor of the Cardinal Glennon replacement programme
- Regional President, SSM Health St. Louis and Southern Illinois: Jeremy Fotheringham, RN, MHSA, JD — represented SSM Health’s regional leadership at the topping out ceremony
- President, SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital: Dr. Hossain Marandi — lead clinical and institutional spokesperson for the project; articulated the clinical rationale for replacement and the design philosophy centred on how children feel and heal
- Construction Manager: McCarthy Building Companies — St. Louis-headquartered national construction firm serving as the principal construction manager for the design-build delivery of the replacement hospital; one of the largest employee-owned construction companies in the United States
- Architect of Record: HKS Inc. — Dallas-based international architecture and design firm with a substantial portfolio in healthcare and paediatric hospital design
- Planning and Design Consultant: The Lawrence Group — St. Louis-based planning, architecture and design firm providing local design and planning support across the project
- Philanthropic Partner: Cardinal Glennon Children’s Foundation — the fundraising arm of the hospital responsible for the capital campaign; Campaign Chair Jim Koman led foundation communications at the topping out event and announced campaign progress toward the $150 million goal
- Faith Community Representative: Most Reverend Mitchell Thomas Rozanski, Archbishop of St. Louis — offered a prayer at the ceremony marking the spiritual dimension of the Catholic health system’s investment
- City of St. Louis: Mayor Cara Spencer — attended the ceremony and expressed municipal support for the hospital’s role in strengthening the city’s healthcare infrastructure
