Mercy has begun construction on a 75-bed hospital in Wentzville that will soon serve the region’s booming west suburbs.
The facility will be built less than a half-mile from where Interstates 70 and 64 converge at Highway 61 in St. Charles County. Workers have cleared a 60-acre property previously filled with trees and started constructing a utility building, the first steps of what will eventually be a $650 million facility.
The Catholic health system has been consulting with residents about what they would like to see offered at the new hospital, said Community Operations Vice President David Argueta.
“They're excited about that care closer to home, interested in what kind of services that might entail,” he said. “Emergency care has been something that has been at the top of everyone's list, which is something that we'll be bringing. And then an interest in primary care . ... They want to make sure that every component of our care model is available to them.”
In addition to emergency services, the hospital will offer cancer care, radiology and women’s care, among other specialties.
Mercy executives on Thursday morning used shiny shovels decorated with large bows to sift around brightly colored dirt in a ceremonial groundbreaking at the property.
Bishop Mark Rivituso, auxiliary bishop of St. Louis, used an aspergillum to shake holy water on the ground and on the attendants. He blessed the workers who would be constructing the hospital and those who would soon work there.
Architectural renderings of the future grounds show a slightly boomerang-shaped hospital with glass walls around five stories high.
The new hospital will give patients a “frictionless experience,” said Mercy President and CEO Steve Mackin.
“We have a sense of their needs as they come in, and then we can use kind of a digital experience to help move them from appointment to another,” he said. “We have their DNA, we have their X-rays, we have their medical issues, and we should be able to take that information to be able to more proactively and predictably serve them.”
According to the U.S. Census, St. Charles County has experienced a more than 17% growth in population since 2010, part of a demographic trend of exurban counties in the region growing in size as the number of people in the urban core shrinks.
The state health department had to confirm the need for another hospital in the region before Mercy could begin to build, a process that health system officials said was completed in record time.
St. Charles County Council member Mike Elam said it seems every other day a new business in the area is cutting a ribbon.
“If you look at everything that's going on west of Wentzville, even out to Foristell and the large double interchange that they're putting in out there, you're going to see a ton of growth,” he said. “There is so much that continues to move westward.”
He said he’s heard of residents driving a half-hour or more to get to hospitals farther east.
“They have to go all the way downtown, and it's so nice to have this right here in our community,” he said. “When you have a health incident, you want to get to that quality of care as quickly as possible, because in many cases, it will be lifesaving.”
Mercy officials say that because the new hospital’s 60-acre property is large, the health system could eventually add other services, clinics or community offerings.
It’s scheduled to open in 2029.
