SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital Marks Construction Milestone with Topping Out Ceremony for New 14 Story Pediatric Hospital Being Built by McCarthy
The ceremony signified completion of the building’s structural frame and advanced the hospital toward its planned late 2027 opening.
SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital marked a significant construction milestone on Monday, April 6, 2026, with a topping out ceremony celebrating the placement of the final structural beam atop its new 14 story, 200 plus bed, state of the art pediatric hospital. The ceremony signified completion of the building’s structural frame and advanced the hospital toward its planned late 2027 opening, when it will bring expanded, high tech, family centered pediatric care to children across the region and beyond.
The topping out also marked a significant workforce milestone, with more than 700,000 work hours completed to date by the design build team, reflecting the scale, complexity, and collaborative effort required to bring the project to this point.
The event featured remarks from key regional and organizational leaders, including Laura S. Kaiser, FACHE, CEO of SSM Health; Most Reverend Mitchell Thomas Rozanski, Archbishop of St. Louis; Jeremy Fotheringham, RN, MHSA, JD, Regional President of SSM Health St. Louis and Southern Illinois; Dr. Hossain Marandi, President of SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital; and Cardinal Glennon Foundation Campaign Chair Jim Koman. Community representatives, partners, and project team members were also in attendance to commemorate the milestone.
In the past seven decades, the needs of pediatric patients have changed, said Cardinal Glennon President Hossain Marandi. Health providers need more space. “The new Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital will expand intensive care and surgical capabilities. It will provide dedicated services and education and research space that will keep our teams at the forefront of pediatric medicine, and it will mean a facility intentionally designed around how children feel and heal, filled with warmth, light, and hope,” said Marandi.
The new facility is designed to transform pediatric care by incorporating advanced technology, expanded specialty units, and a healing focused environment. Planned features include 200 plus beds, a larger pediatric intensive care unit, a new bone marrow transplant unit, increased operating room capacity, a dedicated dialysis unit, and private, light filled NICU, PICU, and CVICU spaces. The hospital’s modern design is expected to improve patient outcomes, strengthen family engagement, and support continued clinical innovation.
The hospital is being delivered by a collaborative design build team that includes McCarthy Building Companies, St. Louis based construction manager; HKS, Inc., Dallas based architecture and design firm; and The Lawrence Group, St. Louis based planning and design firm.
The ceremony was held outdoors at 920 South Spring Avenue in St. Louis, directly across from the new hospital construction site.
About SSM Health
Nationally recognized for quality and innovation, SSM Health is a Catholic, not for profit, fully integrated health system working to advance health equity and empower all people to achieve their full potential.
With care delivery sites in Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin, SSM Health provides convenient access to high quality community-based services as well as world class academic medicine, clinical trials, and research studies. The organization’s footprint includes hospitals, physician offices, outpatient and virtual care services, senior care, comprehensive home care and hospice services, a fully transparent pharmacy benefit company, a health insurance company, and an accountable care organization. As one of the largest employers in every community it serves, the organization’s 40,000 team members and 15,000 providers are dedicated to fulfilling SSM Health’s Mission: “Through our exceptional health care services, we reveal the healing presence of God.” For more information, visit ssmhealth.com or find us on Facebook and LinkedIn.
About McCarthy
McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. (McCarthy) is the oldest privately held national construction company in America. With more than 160 years spent collaborating with partners to solve complex building challenges on behalf of its clients, McCarthy is committed to delivering superior results and creating great experiences for everyone. McCarthy approaches every job with the mindset of a true builder. By self-performing critical scopes of work, McCarthy delivers accountability and consistency from start to finish. Through industry-leading design phase and construction techniques, combined with value-add technology, McCarthy drives smarter solutions and maximizes project outcomes.
Repeatedly honored as a Best Place to Work and Healthiest Employer, McCarthy is ranked the 15th largest domestic builder (Engineering News-Record, May 2025). With over 8,000 salaried employees and craft professionals, the firm has offices in St. Louis; Atlanta; Collinsville, Ill.; Kansas City, Kan.; Omaha, Neb.; Phoenix; Chandler, Ariz.; Las Vegas; Denver; Austin, Channelview, Dallas, and Houston, Texas; and San Diego, Newport Beach, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose and Sacramento, Calif. McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned. More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com or by following the company on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
