St. Francis gears up for expansion

Construction is set to begin soon on a 417,000-square-foot addition to the Indianapolis campus of St. Francis Hospital (Beech Grove campus is shown here). The $200-million project is slated for completion by 2010 and is being designed by BSA LifeStructures. The 116-foot-tall, six-story addition will be built as part of a 106-acre tract southeast of Emerson Avenue and Stop 11. The design apparently is top-secret, as Property Lines tried unsuccessfully for about a week to get a rendering. So what will the expansion of the Indianapolis hospital mean for the Beech Grove campus? All inpatient and acute-care services will move to the new hospital, but some outpatient services will remain, said spokesman Joe Stuteville. “We’re not moving out of there completely,” he said. Still, it sounds like they’ll have extra space in Beech Grove. What should they do with it?