St. Louis-based Mercy Plans to Build New $650M Hospital Complex

Posted April 10, 2024

St. Louis-based healthcare system Mercy filed a letter of intent to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to build a 75-bed, $650 million hospital in Wentzville, Mo.

The health system’s investment will bring a 483,000-square-foot medical complex to a 60-acre development site near the intersection of Interstate 64 and Interstate 70. The construction of the new complex aims to address population growth within the St. Charles, Lincoln and Warren tri-county area, according to a release.

St. Charles, Lincoln and Warren counties are three of the top seven fastest-growing counties in Missouri, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The population in the tri-county area is predicted to grow by approximately 9.5 percent, to more than 500,000 residents, by 2032.

The complex will be Missousi’s first completely new, acute-care hospital campus built since 2015 when Mercy opened its hospital in Joplin.

“Now is the time to invest in the future and better serve our patients closer to home. Our data shows us many Mercy patients travel, sometimes more than an hour, from Lincoln and Warren counties into St. Louis County,” Mercy president and CEO, Steve Mackin said in the release. “The need for this facility, while significant today, will only increase as projected growth continues.”

The construction phase of the project will bring local, union construction jobs to the region, while the complete medical complex will create hundreds of new long-term healthcare jobs in the region including more primary care physicians, specialists and nurses, Mercy stated in the release.

Construction of the medical complex is expected to take four years.

Last month, Mercy announced a partnership with Children’s Mercy Kansas City to bring enhanced pediatric care to southwest Missouri.