The 464,000 square foot, 215-bed Children's Hospital of Illinois and OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria is the largest private building project in the City’s history. Tightly tucked within the existing OSF Saint Francis campus, the addition includes a new children’s hospital, an updated and expanded emergency department, additional intensive care beds for both children and adults, 24 new operating rooms, St. Jude clinical spaces, NICU beds, MRI suites, and expanded surgery and cardiac care facilities. Mortenson was also contracted to build a new 500,000 square foot parking structure and elevated pedestrian connection.

One of the more challenging aspects of the Milestone project was the tight site logistics and interfacing of other buildings on the existing campus. The project required demolition of an existing parking structure immediately adjacent to the functioning hospital and pedestrian walkway which served the majority of hospital visitors, all without disrupting current operations. Additionally, the project is bound by St. Francis’ functioning emergency department requiring 24-hour access for ambulance traffic.

Besides being the only Level 1 Trauma facility for central Illinois, the emergency department is also the host to the busiest Life Flight in the state. With the landing flight path crossing over the project site and as little as five minutes' notice of inbound flights, coordinated communication was key between the Life Flight dispatch and the Mortenson office. Upon notification of a flight, the Mortenson team coordinated with all field personnel, including two tower cranes and a variety of ground cranes, throughout construction to ensure there was no delay in care for the most critical of patients.