BILLINGS– Construction of the nearly $1 billion building for St. Vincent Regional Hospital has reached half of the upcoming hospital’s total height.
Seven more floors will be added to create the final 14-floor building, which will replace the hospital’s existing buildings.
Watch construction crews work:
“This is a huge deal,” said Matt Peterson, sheet metal general foreman with Air Controls. “You still have a whole other seven floors from that top piece of iron.”
Related: St. Vincent accepts $5M donation as construction of new Billings hospital continues
“I never in a million years would have thought I’d have been a part of a project this big,” said Paul Miller, project manager for Askin Construction. “It’s impressive.”
Crews broke ground for the hospital last June and estimate the project will be finished in 2029.
The hospital is undergoing this dramatic change for a few reasons. According to St. Vincent director of imaging resources Karlee May, one reason is healthcare efficiency.
“It’s really an ease of workflow for our patients,” said May, who gave input for the new building’s floorplan and equipment. “We were very thoughtful about keeping our imaging department in one centralized location.”
She told MTN the hospital’s current imaging services are spread out in different departments, so patients have to move to different areas of the hospital to receive results. This new hospital would bring all imaging services into one area in the building.
“When patients arrive, they can show up to one place,” said May. “Which means that they’re going to be able to have faster diagnoses, easier procedures done.”
Another reason for the new hospital is structural issues with the old buildings.
“It’s the infrastructure, just the age of the facility,” said St. Vincent Chief Operating Officer Dustin Strandell. “It just made more sense to replace because… the operational disruptions to try and rebuild an existing facility are huge.”
Strandell told MTN the old hospital buildings will be knocked down when construction of the new building wraps up.
“And then we’ll redevelop our campus,” said Strandell. “A lot of it will be parking. We’ll have some green space and park areas.”
