Today, Children’s Mercy Hospital announced a new 20-story, $1 Billion acute care tower for their campus near Crown Center.

The new tower, designed by HOK, will rise on a site that roughly exists between the driveway to the hospital off Locust Street down to near 25th and Gillham. This tower is just one component of the planned overhaul of the entire Children’s Mercy campus, which is currently going through the planning process. Other components of the campus remake include other hospital and medical buildings, additional parking facilities, realigning streets, and renovating other buildings.

Children’s Mercy’s plans call for the new building to increase their patient care capacity by up-to 30%, helping take care of location, and regional, children who are in the unfortunate situation to require medical care at a hospital. But expanding one of the best children’s hospitals in the country should give families some relief since such a service is located in their own backyards.

Per Children’s Mercy, the new tower will include….

• New homes for the PICU and NICU, and expansion of the Emergency Department, increasing capacity and supporting complex needs.
• A state-of-the-art surgical center with future-ready technology, including robotics.
• Improved clinical flow and adjacency to help care teams collaborate more seamlessly.
• More natural light, green space and thoughtfully designed areas that enhance patient and family comfort and healing.
• Spaces intentionally designed to translate bold science and research into real-world treatments and cures.
• A new lobby with dedicated spaces designed to support patients, families and staff.

Funding will be a private-public partnership with philanthropists playing a role in getting the new facility constructed.

Per the conceptual design renderings, the new hospital appears to be roughly the same height as the Crown Center Sheraton.

The desire is to begin early construction activities this year with construction wrapping up in 2031.

Neighboring the Royals

When the Royals selected Crown Center as the site of their new stadium last week, which will also be completed in 2031, it was known that the Children’s Mercy Campus would be a neighbor to the new ballpark. Now we know that this new patient tower will actually overlook the stadium. Based on the conceptual building’s apparent height, and location on a hill, the hospital will loom over right field, allowing some patients to see into the stadium.

Could Children’s Mercy also end up sponsoring the new home of the Royals like they did Sporting KC for so many years? Time will tell, but having two large, transformational community-enhancing projects worth billions rising across Gillham from each other is a great sign for the future of Kansas City and a testament to local organization’s commitment to building a stronger community.

The gallery below features additional renderings of the proposed hospital.