After three and a half years of construction and two years of concept and design work, officials from Essentia Health in Duluth plan to formally cut the ribbon Thursday to celebrate the grand opening of its new $900 million dollar hospital.

The 18-story glass tower — measured from Superior Street to the helipad on the roof — represents the largest private investment in the city’s history.

On a tour of the new St. Mary’s Medical Center earlier this week, the most noticeable feature is the natural light. There are floor-to-ceiling windows in the hallways and in every one of the hospital’s 344 rooms, offering panoramic views of Lake Superior and the Duluth hillside.

Art abounds in the airy, open space. Essentia commissioned about 100 new paintings, sculptures and other pieces, many from local and Native American artists.

The new building is designed to not just cure people, but to help them heal, said Dr. Robert Erickson, physician lead on the project that Essentia has dubbed Vision Northland.

“And it’s the light of the space that we have in the hospital, and in the the art that we have in the hospital, that will add to that healing space. So this really complements what we do in medicine,” he said.

The new building spans two city blocks on Duluth’s steep hillside. To give an idea of just how steep, when someone enters on 2nd Street at ground level and walks toward Lake Superior, they end up on floor six on the other side of the hospital.

The new hospital is outfitted with all kinds of gee-whiz technology and thoughtful planning.

The hospital’s 28 elevators incorporate a system called “destination dispatch.” Riders choose their destinations before stepping aboard.

“Then rather than just pressing the button to go up and having everybody get on and maybe stop at [floors] seven, eight and nine, instead, you select your floor, and then it will group you with other people who also selected that floor,” explained facilities director Dan Cebelinski. “So then you have to make a lot less stops as you’re going up.”

That increases the efficiency of moving people and equipment by about 25 percent, he added.

The new hospital will be outfit with 24 robots that look like motorized carts that Essentia staff can program from any computer or iPad. Staff can request the tugs to autonomously deliver food, or take out the trash, or deliver carts of clean linens.

They’ll be stationed at different chargers throughout the building. When a staff member requests one, another tug will backfill that charging station so they’re always close to where they’re needed.

There are also smaller touches, like “pass-through cabinets,” that allow staff to stock rooms from the hallways so they don’t have to disturb patients.

In rooms designated for natural births, valves for medical gases are hidden behind a painting that slides to the side at the push of a button in case the intervention is needed during labor.

To help design patient rooms, Essentia created 26 different staff user groups to give feedback. They even built mock rooms out of foam.

“They put everything where they wanted it to go, how they thought would be efficient workflows, and we established the layout from there,” said Essentia’s Tony Matt.

Architects constantly adjusted the design. One of the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic was to plan for sufficient oxygen supply.

“And so we upsized our oxygen pipes infrastructure to be able to accommodate that in our upper floors,” said Cebelinski. “The new building is also able to bring in 100 percent outdoor air in the event of another pandemic.”

Designers also left about 100,000 square feet of “shelled” space on five floors of the hospital, that Essentia can tailor to changing needs. For example, during a pandemic it could turn them into ICU floors.

There’s also the potential to add two stories to one side of the hospital.

“This is a 50-plus year building, and making sure you’ve built in that flexibility to be able to change with medicine as you move forward,” said Cebelinski.

But building the hospital is only part of the challenge. Since February, staff have trained in the new facility and tested the space and new equipment.

“We’ve also done simulations, to go through codes, network outages, we’re going to do a power outage, communication workflows, so that it works as we want it to on day one,” said Jill Cernohous, transition director for the Vision Northland project.

Staff have also conducted several mock patient moves in preparation for July 30, when all patients will be wheeled to their new rooms through the skywalk, by bed or wheelchair, beginning at 7 a.m.

Essentia has contracted with a company called Health Care Relocations that has moved hundreds of hospitals. Cernohous and her team visited a hospital in Canada where they shadowed staff as they moved into a new facility.

“Then we’ll have a team that’s coming from elsewhere in the United States who will watch us, so really passing that karma along,” she said.

Despite moving into a state-of-the-art facility that replaces a hospital that in some areas is 100 years old, the transition is bittersweet for some staff.

“I was born at St. Mary’s Medical Center many years ago. And there are many others that have those stories that not only do they work here and serve, but their families have received care here. And so we will be saying goodbye to that,” said Stacey Jutila, director of chaplaincy services for Essentia.

“But as we come into this new space and see the beautiful views, the amazing technology and care that can be provided, we look forward to providing that care in this new place.”

The public is invited to tour the new hospital on Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.