AdventHealth to begin construction on $76.5 million cancer center in Johnson County

AdventHealth Shawnee Mission begins construction next week on a $76.5 million cancer center in Johnson County that will allow it to double the number of patients it serves by 2030, hospital officials said Thursday.

The new AdventHealth Cancer Center Shawnee Mission, a three-story, 71,000-square-foot building, will be built on the hospital system’s campus in Merriam near 75th Street and Interstate 35. It will be dedicated solely to cancer care.

The building will replace AdventHealth’s current cancer center in a medical office building at 9301 W. 74th St. It is scheduled to open in the spring of 2024, hospital officials said.

Hospital officials said the new building will more than triple its space for cancer care. For patients, that means shorter lab waits and quicker access to chemotherapy, they said. It will also allow AdventHealth to participate in more clinical trials.

Patients will go there for any cancer-related care, from prevention to diagnosis, treatment and follow-up appointments.

Designed by Hoefer Welker architecture firm in Leawood, the center will have new spaces for radiation oncology, infusion therapy, labs, rehabilitation services, a pharmacy and clinics for providers, the hospital said in an announcement. It will also house AdventHealth’s Diagnostic Breast Center.

Hoefer Welker also designed The University of Kansas Health System’s new, 38,200-square-foot proton therapy center in Kansas City, Kansas, which began accepting patients last month. It is one of about 40 proton therapy centers in the United States and the only cancer center in a five-state region to offer the specialized form of radiation treatment.

The AdventHealth building has been designed to bring nature indoors, with windows letting light into the area where patients receive infusions. An outdoor terrace will be available to patients and their families.

“We know having cancer is stressful but treating it shouldn’t be,” gynecologic oncologist Dr. Brenda Shoup said in a statement.

The AdventHealth Kansas City Foundation has launched a campaign to raise money for the construction and advanced cancer care technology, the hospital said.

Work will begin at the site next week. An official groundbreaking is scheduled for October.

AdventHealth operates nearly 50 hospital campuses and hundreds of care sites in about a dozen states. In the Kansas City metro, that includes the Merriam campus, and locations in Lenexa, Olathe and south Overland Park.

Last week AdventHealth Shawnee Mission, which has 504 inpatient beds, was ranked the fourth-best large community hospital in the United States on the annual Fortune/Merative 100 Top Hospitals List. It was the only area hospital to make that list. The hospital marks its 60th year in Kansas City this year.