Children’s Hospital’s Strategic Plan to Include $1.3B in CRE Investments

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Image courtesy of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is commencing its $11.5 billion Six-Year St. Jude Strategic Plan, the largest strategic investment in the hospital’s 60 years in existence, and the plan includes a whopping $1.3 billion in construction and renovation projects.

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St. Jude’s flagship campus currently includes millions of square feet spanning 66 acres in Memphis, Tenn. However, the hospital also boasts locations across the South and Midwest. The new strategic plan, approved by the hospital’s board of governors just weeks ago on March 25, involves a host of expansion endeavors that will allow the hospital to further its research endeavors and renowned patient care.

Part of the funds will include projects designed to increase St. Jude’s investment in science and technology. The hospital will invest in excess of $250 million to provide scientists and clinicians with state-of-the-art technology and resources to further probe pediatric catastrophic diseases by creating a Cryo-Electron Tomography Center and the Center of Excellence in Advanced Microscopy.  

Room for thought

St. Jude will invest in other construction projects under the new strategic plan in an effort bolster internal and external collaboration by creating best-in-class environments.

The hospital will direct funds toward the completion of The Domino’s Village, an approximately 290,000-square-foot housing facility that is being developed at 361 N. Third St., near its flagship campus in Memphis. The $110 million development will encompass 140 one- to three-bedroom apartment suites for patients and their families. Linkois Construction is the general contractor on the Renaissance Group-designed project, which will open in 2023.

Additionally, St. Jude will invest in the development of Family Commons, a quality-of-life space providing patient family services; the soon-to-open, 625,000-square-foot Advanced Research Center; as well as outpatient, clinical office and administrative buildings and parking garages.

The source of the funding for the projects under the multi-phase expansion endeavor is primarily donor contributions through St. Jude’s fundraising and awareness organization ALSAC. In a prepared statement, Richard Shadyac Jr., president & CEO of ALSAC, said, “We are making our biggest financial investment ever—during a pandemic—because the public, our donors, have demonstrated their commitment to us.”