$20.8 Million St. Paul Children’s Hospital Complete

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare celebrated the completion of its new, $20.8 million outpatient facility across from Regions Hospital, where they shared operations for 33 years.

Work on the 52,567 square foot facility and $2 million pedestrian bridge running over the main thoroughfare was begun in 2009 by McGough Construction and largely completed by late last year. BWBR Architects designed the facility.

The addition was needed when Gillette outgrew its leased space on the third and fourth floors of Regions, after partnering with the hospital to nearly double the size of its pediatric intensive care unit last May.

The new facility houses children’s rehabilitation and therapy services as well as Gillette’s renowned Center for Gait and Motion Analysis, which uses computerized cameras to analyze the walking motions of children with cerebral palsy, spina bifida and other illnesses.

A skyway now connects Region’s fourth floor with the new building and is designed to feel like an extension of the hospital.

Constructing the new building entailed excavating the side of a steep hill and installing a massive retaining wall to hold the soil in place.

Scores of permanent steel-cable tiebacks anchored in concrete and drilled 50 feet into the side of the hill were used to secure the wall. In addition, the building’s back retaining walls were made of concrete of at least two-foot thickness.