Bon Secours is planning a 200,000-square-foot critical care facility for its St. Mary’s Hospital campus as part of a larger $370 million project. (Images courtesy Bon Secours)
Bon Secours has a massive project on tap to improve its critical care facilities at St. Mary’s Hospital.
The planned $370 million expansion of the western Henrico hospital would feature the construction of a six-level structure, renovations of existing facilities and other projects on the campus off Monument Avenue.
The new building would replace existing parking spots and a patient drop-off area at the hospital’s main entrance fronting Bremo Road.
The 200,000-square-foot building would cost $306 million and provide larger, more modern spaces for the hospital’s critical care operations. Existing operating rooms and other facilities at the hospital, as well as dozens of beds, would be moved into the new space.
St. Mary’s, which opened in 1966, is the hub of higher-level medical care for Bon Secours’s Richmond-area operations, and is a center for pediatrics and neonatal care. The upcoming project would tee up St. Mary’s to better support the health system’s operations in that role amid anticipated demand growth.
Bryan Lee
“Building this tower will strengthen St. Mary’s position as the tertiary and quaternary market hub for Bon Secours,” St. Mary’s President Bryan Lee said.
The new building would have 44 ICU beds, which would be sourced from the hospital’s existing stock of nearly 400 medical beds. The project would also expand the number of bassinets at St. Mary’s.
The hospital plans to make all its beds private as part of the project. Currently the hospital has a mixture of private and shared rooms for patients.
Other upgrades included in the project are improvements to the hospital’s loading docks and main entrance.
Bon Secours plans to break ground on the project this summer, and work on the tower itself is expected to start in the fall. The plan is to open the new building in early 2028.
DPR was tapped to serve as the project’s general contractor. Architecture firm Perkins&Will is handling the project’s design. Engineering firms Timmons Group, CMTA and Simpson Gumpertz & Heger are also involved in the project.
As part of the expansion project at St. Mary’s, Bon Secours intends to rework the hospital’s entrance and pedestrian access. The new 200,000-square-foot tower that comprises the majority of the project is shown in solid white.
The project is anticipated to be covered by an upcoming fundraising campaign and funds from Bon Secours Mercy Health, the parent company of Bon Secours Richmond. A portion of proceeds from a $600 million bond sale for capital projects in the Richmond and Hampton Roads areas would go toward the St. Mary’s project.
The new facility is expected to require 375 new full-time employees at the hospital, which currently has about 2,500 employees.
Bon Secours planned to file plans for the tower project with Henrico on Thursday afternoon. The project would require zoning approval from the Board of Supervisors to accommodate the height of the building and the helipad that would be located atop it.
The tower would include six operating rooms and two catheterization labs among other facilities. The project would shift some existing beds at St. Mary’s toward critical care usage. Lee said the tower would nearly double the hospital’s critical care capacity.
“We’re building new pre-op space, post-op space and we’re building modern, state-of-the-art operating rooms that are much larger,” he said. “We’re not changing the licensed bed count; what we are doing is changing the mix (of beds).”
The tower’s top two floors, which together would total more than 20,000 square feet, would be shell space to accommodate future needs. The hospital’s helipad would be relocated to the roof of the tower from its current location in the parking lot, and the existing pad would be converted into parking spots.
“NICU, ICU, all of that will be in that new tower. So that helipad will be able to drop those patients directly to their destination in a more efficient manner,” Lee said.
The spaces in the hospital currently occupied by the facilities that are to be moved to the new tower would be filled with other operations. The St. Mary’s space that’s now occupied by the NICU, for example, is expected to be used to expand an existing specialty women’s unit. Bridges are planned on several levels to connect the new tower to the hospital.
A rendering of the new critical care tower planned at St. Mary’s Hospital.
While the facilities planned for the tower are already operating at St. Mary’s, moving them to the tower is intended to improve care and accommodate new technology, said Dr. Mark Bladergroen, executive medical director of Bon Secours Richmond Heart and Vascular Institute.
“We’re able functionally to do all this currently, but we don’t have a structure that supports the functionality,” Bladergroen said. “For us to be able to coordinate that level of complexity and keep pace with technological innovation that’s driving complex care, you really have to continue to invest in your structure.”
As a new center for neonatal intensive care, the tower would feature 31 bassinets, which is 10 more than are currently available at St. Mary’s.
A new and expanded space to care for newborns and mothers is key for St. Mary’s to keep up with demand and the trend of women having children later in life, said Dr. Bart Rountree, executive medical director for women’s and children’s services at Bon Secours Richmond.
“The NICU (project) really represents modernizing our NICU capabilities,” he said. “The sickest babies, the smallest babies, come here and to be able to offer them a modern space that’s got more room…We’re really excited. The data suggests that as patients are delivering older and they’re sometimes sicker, there’s more complications.”
The project would rework the hospital’s main entrance. Plans call for a more visible front door and new drop-off area, as well as new pedestrian crossings on Bremo Road, which separates the hospital from a parking structure.
The project would also overhaul the hospital’s loading dock area on Libbie Avenue, which dates to the 1960s and is considered unsuitable for modern semi-trailer trucks. Trucks currently have to queue up on the side of the road, and they have to block traffic while they back into the current facility, including ambulances coming from Monument Avenue trying to get into St. Mary’s.
“Our new loading dock with three truck bays will help eliminate some of this traffic,” St. Mary’s operations director Tara Richards said. “(Currently) if an ambulance is coming from the Monument area, they’re going to have to wait for the truck to move.”
The upcoming project comes as the latest in a series of expansions and renovations at St. Mary’s over the course of nearly six decades. The last major project at the hospital, which currently totals 744,000 square feet, was an emergency room that opened in 2013.
Lee, the hospital’s president, said that the project wouldn’t just be a benefit for western Henrico, but for Bon Secours’ entire operation in the Richmond region and beyond.
“This continues forward with our mission of providing good help to those in need,” he said. “Often people associate St. Mary’s with the West End of Richmond. We’re far more than that. We serve not only the greater Richmond area with most of our service lines; some of them we cover the state.”
Bon Secours is planning a 200,000-square-foot critical care facility for its St. Mary’s Hospital campus as part of a larger $370 million project. (Images courtesy Bon Secours)
Bon Secours has a massive project on tap to improve its critical care facilities at St. Mary’s Hospital.
The planned $370 million expansion of the western Henrico hospital would feature the construction of a six-level structure, renovations of existing facilities and other projects on the campus off Monument Avenue.
The new building would replace existing parking spots and a patient drop-off area at the hospital’s main entrance fronting Bremo Road.
The 200,000-square-foot building would cost $306 million and provide larger, more modern spaces for the hospital’s critical care operations. Existing operating rooms and other facilities at the hospital, as well as dozens of beds, would be moved into the new space.
St. Mary’s, which opened in 1966, is the hub of higher-level medical care for Bon Secours’s Richmond-area operations, and is a center for pediatrics and neonatal care. The upcoming project would tee up St. Mary’s to better support the health system’s operations in that role amid anticipated demand growth.
Bryan Lee
“Building this tower will strengthen St. Mary’s position as the tertiary and quaternary market hub for Bon Secours,” St. Mary’s President Bryan Lee said.
The new building would have 44 ICU beds, which would be sourced from the hospital’s existing stock of nearly 400 medical beds. The project would also expand the number of bassinets at St. Mary’s.
The hospital plans to make all its beds private as part of the project. Currently the hospital has a mixture of private and shared rooms for patients.
Other upgrades included in the project are improvements to the hospital’s loading docks and main entrance.
Bon Secours plans to break ground on the project this summer, and work on the tower itself is expected to start in the fall. The plan is to open the new building in early 2028.
DPR was tapped to serve as the project’s general contractor. Architecture firm Perkins&Will is handling the project’s design. Engineering firms Timmons Group, CMTA and Simpson Gumpertz & Heger are also involved in the project.
As part of the expansion project at St. Mary’s, Bon Secours intends to rework the hospital’s entrance and pedestrian access. The new 200,000-square-foot tower that comprises the majority of the project is shown in solid white.
The project is anticipated to be covered by an upcoming fundraising campaign and funds from Bon Secours Mercy Health, the parent company of Bon Secours Richmond. A portion of proceeds from a $600 million bond sale for capital projects in the Richmond and Hampton Roads areas would go toward the St. Mary’s project.
The new facility is expected to require 375 new full-time employees at the hospital, which currently has about 2,500 employees.
Bon Secours planned to file plans for the tower project with Henrico on Thursday afternoon. The project would require zoning approval from the Board of Supervisors to accommodate the height of the building and the helipad that would be located atop it.
The tower would include six operating rooms and two catheterization labs among other facilities. The project would shift some existing beds at St. Mary’s toward critical care usage. Lee said the tower would nearly double the hospital’s critical care capacity.
“We’re building new pre-op space, post-op space and we’re building modern, state-of-the-art operating rooms that are much larger,” he said. “We’re not changing the licensed bed count; what we are doing is changing the mix (of beds).”
The tower’s top two floors, which together would total more than 20,000 square feet, would be shell space to accommodate future needs. The hospital’s helipad would be relocated to the roof of the tower from its current location in the parking lot, and the existing pad would be converted into parking spots.
“NICU, ICU, all of that will be in that new tower. So that helipad will be able to drop those patients directly to their destination in a more efficient manner,” Lee said.
The spaces in the hospital currently occupied by the facilities that are to be moved to the new tower would be filled with other operations. The St. Mary’s space that’s now occupied by the NICU, for example, is expected to be used to expand an existing specialty women’s unit. Bridges are planned on several levels to connect the new tower to the hospital.
A rendering of the new critical care tower planned at St. Mary’s Hospital.
While the facilities planned for the tower are already operating at St. Mary’s, moving them to the tower is intended to improve care and accommodate new technology, said Dr. Mark Bladergroen, executive medical director of Bon Secours Richmond Heart and Vascular Institute.
“We’re able functionally to do all this currently, but we don’t have a structure that supports the functionality,” Bladergroen said. “For us to be able to coordinate that level of complexity and keep pace with technological innovation that’s driving complex care, you really have to continue to invest in your structure.”
As a new center for neonatal intensive care, the tower would feature 31 bassinets, which is 10 more than are currently available at St. Mary’s.
A new and expanded space to care for newborns and mothers is key for St. Mary’s to keep up with demand and the trend of women having children later in life, said Dr. Bart Rountree, executive medical director for women’s and children’s services at Bon Secours Richmond.
“The NICU (project) really represents modernizing our NICU capabilities,” he said. “The sickest babies, the smallest babies, come here and to be able to offer them a modern space that’s got more room…We’re really excited. The data suggests that as patients are delivering older and they’re sometimes sicker, there’s more complications.”
The project would rework the hospital’s main entrance. Plans call for a more visible front door and new drop-off area, as well as new pedestrian crossings on Bremo Road, which separates the hospital from a parking structure.
The project would also overhaul the hospital’s loading dock area on Libbie Avenue, which dates to the 1960s and is considered unsuitable for modern semi-trailer trucks. Trucks currently have to queue up on the side of the road, and they have to block traffic while they back into the current facility, including ambulances coming from Monument Avenue trying to get into St. Mary’s.
“Our new loading dock with three truck bays will help eliminate some of this traffic,” St. Mary’s operations director Tara Richards said. “(Currently) if an ambulance is coming from the Monument area, they’re going to have to wait for the truck to move.”
The upcoming project comes as the latest in a series of expansions and renovations at St. Mary’s over the course of nearly six decades. The last major project at the hospital, which currently totals 744,000 square feet, was an emergency room that opened in 2013.
Lee, the hospital’s president, said that the project wouldn’t just be a benefit for western Henrico, but for Bon Secours’ entire operation in the Richmond region and beyond.
“This continues forward with our mission of providing good help to those in need,” he said. “Often people associate St. Mary’s with the West End of Richmond. We’re far more than that. We serve not only the greater Richmond area with most of our service lines; some of them we cover the state.”
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It appears to me that parking will be a problem going forward. Has this been addressed by the County?
It’s consistently addressed in literally every project. Parking is always brought up as the developmental boogeyman and yet everyone in the region, from downtown Richmond to rural Powhatan, has always has a place to park at or near their destination.
But more importantly, there are plans to increase frequency of transit around this area and to add more bicycle and pedestrian connections along Monument and Libbie. And yes, people (patients and staff) do walk, bike, and bus to hospitals.
Actually, if you have ever been to St. Mary’s you would know that parking really is a problem. But the good thing is they do have a parking lot they could put another deck on if they need to.
I have been there many times, but I usually bike or take the bus so parking isn’t a problem.
I am totally used to the holier than thou use public transportation posts on nearly every thread at Bizsense but come TF on …. you are going to bike over to your colonoscopy?
This!!!
Sometimes I wish the public transportation advocates would check the GRTC routes more often. GRTC changed a lot of routes in the past decade…it’s not as simple as hoping on a bus and going straight to your destination anymore.
Brian, how often are you unable to find a parking spot? You bring up parking so often and I’ve never had that issue anywhere in Richmond. I agree St Mary’s is congested but I’ve always found a parking spot even if it was at the top of the deck. At the end of the day St Mary’s will be sure to have enough parking because otherwise they won’t have enough patients to pay for the new addition.
From the way this reads, they aren’t adding many if any additional beds other than bassinets. It will add staff, and more visitors with more babies. Staff already spill over onto the side streets adjacent like Pratt. Additional development is coming as well. I’m someone who Ebikes but I’m not going to do so in the weather we’ve had lately.
St. Mary’s actually has a plenty of parking. The decks are just poorly designed for finding a space. Everyone tries to find a space a space in the first deck, when there are usually plenty in the 2nd and 3rd decks. Some electronic signage similar to what RIC has in the daily parking decks could go a long way.
I can usually find a place in the lot.A little patience is all it takes.
Parking requirements are per the county zoning ordinance and they won’t be able to get a building permit without complying. If I recall correctly, the parking requirements for a hospital in Henrico are partially based on the bed count. If they are converting semi private rooms to my private without any additional beds, the parking requirement and the demand will not change much. Also, I never have trouble finding parking there. If you want to park next to the building, that’s hard, but there are always spaces in the decks