Shriners Top-Out Highlights Build St. Louis
St. Louis Construction News and Review
The topping-out ceremony for the new Shriners Hospital for Children in St. Louis marked the mid-point of the 14th annual Build St. Louis Week in St. Louis city and county. The AGC of St. Louis picked the topping off ceremony for the new hospital to showcase both the importance of construction to the St. Louis economy and the importance of health care construction to the local construction industry.
Len Toenjes, president of the AGC of St. Louis, said the local construction market is beginning to recover from a very rough time. “In July, construction employment in Missouri totaled 111,000, an increase of 7.9 percent from July of 2012, when employment was 103,100,” he said.
“One of the brightest spots is medical construction, including this new $50 million Shriners Hospital. Medical and hospital construction is up across the area,with $6 million in medical work recently completed and another $75.1 million under construction. Recent medical project starts total $12.5 million while another 10 projects are in final bidding and yet another 35 projects are in pre-design, design, or document preparation,” he said.
The Shriners Hospital, designed by Christner, Inc., will feature 12 inpatient beds, 18 outpatient clinic examination rooms, 3 surgical suites, and 4 fitting rooms for orthotics/prosthetics. The facility also will include enhanced space dedicated to the hospital’s Center for Metabolic Bone Disease and Molecular Research, nine rooms for family quarters and space for physical and occupational therapy, child life, radiology, respiratory therapy, pain management and social services. There also will be dedicated space for a research partnership with Washington University School of Medicine scientists and 200 new parking spaces. The total project is expected to employ 100 local crafts workers for 350,000 man-hours. It is located on Clayton Avenue at Newstead Avenue in the St. Louis CORTEX district and is scheduled to open in 2015.
Shriners Hospitals for Children provide advanced care for children with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate regardless of their ability to pay for it.
