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Health
Kirsti Marohn
St. Cloud, Minn.

CentraCare to expand space, services in St. Cloud area

parking lot and a mall
An artist's rendering of the CentraCare Plaza expansion in St. Cloud. The project began this summer and is expected to be completed in about two years.
Courtesy of CentraCare Plaza

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Central Minnesota's largest health care provider is planning a major expansion.

CentraCare announced it's spending $228.8 million to expand two clinics in St. Cloud and Sartell. The expansion will create more space for outpatient services including orthopedics, neurosciences and rehabilitation — services that are in demand due to an aging population.

"We know a lot of our patients end up leaving our service area to go to find the care that they need,” said Dave Larson, vice president of facilities and support services. “It's really CentraCare's commitment to growing services so that folks can stay in the community."

CentraCare is one of several nonprofit Minnesota health systems that reported better financial results this year, following the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Larson said it had a margin of just over 1 percent last year, and expects to see a 2 percent margin for this fiscal year.

“So yes, health care is improving,” he said. “It’s still very fragile. We have a lot of work to do in order to stay healthy financially.”

Work began in June on the CentraCare Plaza expansion, which will add about 175,000 square feet.

Starting in September, CentraCare also is expanding the Sauk Crossing building in Sartell and will consolidate several services under one roof. The two projects are expected to take about two years to complete.

Larson said CentraCare plans to add more staff to its nearly 12,000-member workforce.

CentraCare also is partnering with the University of Minnesota to create a new medical school campus in St. Cloud.