Iron Workers 396, Operating Engineers 513 hold topping out ceremony at new SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital

By SHERI GASSAWAY

Correspondent

St. Louis – Several members of Iron Workers Local 396 and Operating Engineers Local 513 recently held a topping out ceremony here at the new SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital to celebrate the completion of the project’s structural iron work.

SSM broke ground last fall on the new $550 million academic medical center, which is located on the north side of the existing facility between Rutger and Lasalle streets, adjacent to the hospital’s current location on Grand Avenue. The master plan includes a 316-bed, 802,000-square-foot replacement hospital and a new outpatient care center.

The new SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital will include:

• All-private patient rooms.

• Larger intensive care units.

• Expanded emergency department.

• New outpatient care center.

• Additional clinical space for SLUCare physician practices; and

• Educational space for training.

The replacement hospital and outpatient care center is scheduled for completion in September 2020. That project is in addition to current hospital improvement projects already under way since SSM Health assumed ownership of SSM Health SLU Hospital last fall, including construction of a new radiation oncology facility.