Barnes-Jewish Hospital Plaza West Tower

The Barnes-Jewish Hospital Plaza West Tower is a new inpatient hospital facility along Kingshighway at Barnes-Jewish Hospital Plaza in St. Louis, Missouri. As a major phase of BJC HealthCare’s Campus Renewal, the project advances a multi-phase vision to renew the Washington University Medical Campus through new construction and renovations focused on elevating the patient and family experience.

The approximately 632,000-square-foot facility replaces the 55-year-old Queeny Tower patient pavilion with a modern, all-private inpatient environment designed for advanced heart and vascular care and other complex services. The tower provides 280 all-private inpatient beds, including 224 acute care rooms and 56 intensive care unit (ICU) rooms, supported by a podium that houses imaging, pre- and post-operative preparation and recovery, and additional clinical and support functions. Approximately 30,200 square feet are dedicated to kitchen and dining, public and administrative spaces, creating a cohesive, hospitality-inspired experience for patients, families and staff.

Patient rooms are designed to maximize natural light and views while accommodating family members at the bedside. Rooftop gardens and outdoor respite spaces offer patients, visitors and caregivers a welcome connection to fresh air and nature, while generous family lounge areas provide workspaces, kitchenettes, quiet rooms and laundry facilities to support longer stays. Together, these amenities help create a calming, restorative environment that aligns with BJC’s focus on patient- and family-centered care.

At street level, the project reshapes Barnes-Jewish Plaza into a clear, intuitive gateway to the campus. A widened street, reconfigured drop-off and valet areas, and a new elevated pedestrian connection from parking into a redesigned and expanded lobby simplify arrival and improve wayfinding for patients and visitors. The lobby, gift shop and coffee bar create an active, welcoming front door that reinforces the tower’s role as the primary entrance to Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Delivered through a progressive design-build approach in partnership with CannonDesign and key engineering partners, the project was executed on an extremely constrained urban site while maintaining full hospital operations. The design incorporates enhanced infection-prevention and surge-capacity strategies informed by the COVID-19 pandemic, including additional airborne infectious isolation rooms, ICU-capable acute care rooms, negative-air capability in patient rooms and expanded hand hygiene and monitoring features throughout the bed floors and main entry sequence. McCarthy leveraged advanced BIM and 4D scheduling, subsurface utility mapping and targeted prefabrication to coordinate complex building systems, manage logistics and minimize disruption to ongoing hospital operations.

Design for this phase commenced in 2021, with construction starting later that year and substantial completion of the tower occurring in summer 2025. The facility opened to patients in the fall of 2025, creating a next-generation clinical environment and a new front door for the academic medical campus.