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The new $34 million Ronald McDonald House that will expand and replace two existing St. Louis facilities will open this summer.
The new larger house, with four floors and 76,000 square feet at 4321 Chouteau Ave. in Forest Park Southeast, will replace two older locations run by the nonprofit Ronald McDonald House Charities of St. Louis, on Park Avenue and West Pine.
Construction on the new building will be complete this summer, according to a news release from the architect, St. Louis-based Lawrence Group.
Families stay at Ronald McDonald House for free while their children receive treatment at the three major St. Louis area pediatric hospitals — St. Louis Children’s Hospital, SSM Health Cardinal Glenn Children’s Hospital and Shriners Hospital for Children-St. Louis, all in the Midtown area near the new house.
The larger capacity in the new building will allow the organization to serve 40% more families than it can currently, an increase of 450 families annually, the organization said. RMHCSTL had to turn away 3,000 families in need in 2019, when plans for the new house were in the works, according to the release. The need has continued to grow, the organization added.
The current houses have a limited number of rooms and shared bathrooms, but the new house will have 72 suites with a bedroom area, a work/living area and a private bathroom, said Mike DeCola, RMHC campaign chair.
The plan to build the new house had been in the works for years but was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Funds for the capital campaign were raised from private donations, and the project was granted up to $6 million in New Markets Tax Credits. The site was chosen for its proximity to the local hospitals, but the organization had to be granted permission by preservation officials to demolish a historic church that had been located at the site.
With the larger, more centralized facility, Ronald McDonald House was able to add a number of amenities from its “wish list” to the new house, according to the release. That includes interactive game rooms, a wellness suite with fitness, yoga and massage rooms, work-from-home spaces, a rooftop patio, commercial kitchen, laundry facilities, serenity spaces, a hospitality lounge on three of the levels with comfortable seating, a TV, small kitchenette and vending machines and an accessible playroom with a tree structure and slide.
The general contractor for the project is BSI Constructors.
Lawrence Group served as the architect and interior designer for the project, along with specification and procurement of the fixtures, equipment and furniture, as well as landscape design.
The architectural firm drew on its experience in health care, hospitality, multifamily and workplace design to create the facility, said Galen Vassar, senior interior designer and associate principal for Lawrence Group. The house includes an immunosuppressed wing that has a family kitchen and lounge/gathering area for families that have immunosuppressed children.
“You have parents, siblings and families of children with different medical conditions staying at the House at any given time; so our design really needed to focus on providing a safe and comfortable home-away-from-home for families from across the globe,” Vassar said.
“We worked as if were designing our own bedrooms,” with a “safe” and “comforting” color scheme of neutrals, Vassar said.
The nonprofit Ronald McDonald House Charities of St. Louis posted $14.57 million in revenue for 2022, with expenses of $5.64 million, according to its latest federal filing.