Construction crews at SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital in Midtown Oklahoma City reached the highest point of the hospital's new west entrance, marking the occasion with a topping-out ceremony. The event featured a signed beam, an evergreen tree representing perseverance, an American flag honoring project workers, and confetti as the beam was lifted into place to mark the milestone.
The new entrance, named the Love Family Entrance, is part of a 22-month construction project that broke ground in 2025 and is expected to be completed in 2027, according to KOCO. Once finished, the entrance will connect the hospital directly to its parking garage and is designed to provide easier access for patients and families. SSM Health has said the project will improve accessibility to the hospital's services for patients, guests, physicians and employees, according to KFOR.
Replacing an Aging Entryway
The current hospital entrance is described as more than 60 years old, with steep stairs and sloped sidewalks that can be difficult to navigate, per the seed reporting. Tammy Powell, SSM Health regional president, said the facility has been in the works for at least five years and that the new entrance will provide easy access and, as she put it, a beginning point for healing. SSM Health has separately said the project's enclosed lobby will be nearly four times the size of the existing lobby and will connect the ground floor of the parking garage to the hospital's main floor, according to the hospital system's own newsroom account.
Design plans also call for an upgraded parking garage, new patient drop-off traffic flow, two new parking garage elevators and a modern stair tower, the hospital system notes. The new entrance will also incorporate weapon detection systems and additional security personnel, according to the SSM Health St. Anthony Foundation's project page.
Family Ties and Fundraising
Jenny Love, the daughter of Tom and Judy Love, said the project focuses on people, including doctors, nurses and caregivers. The Love family has supported St. Anthony Hospital for many years, and in 2023 Judy Love committed $5 million on behalf of the family to support the project. Donors, including the Love family and the Chickasaw Nation, signed the project beam during the ceremony, and additional support has come from the Mabee Foundation, which offered a $2 million challenge grant contingent on the hospital raising the remaining $1.5 million, according to the Journal Record.
The overall project is estimated to cost $22 million, with $13 million committed at the time the SSM Health St. Anthony Foundation published its funding page. The effort is part of the hospital's broader SaintsForward capital campaign, which is also seeking funding for additional long-term projects in Midtown Oklahoma City, per the same Journal Record report.
Getting to the Hospital During Construction
Sources differ on some specifics of the project. SSM Health's newsroom describes St. Anthony as a 781-bed tertiary care hospital, while the health system's own location page lists it as a 773-bed facility. Project size estimates also vary: the SSM Health St. Anthony Foundation describes a 9,886-square-foot grand entrance and lobby, while architecture firm Miller describes a 6,500-square-foot, 35-foot-tall single-volume entrance. Hoodline could not independently reconcile these figures.
In the meantime, the hospital's west entrance street-level access on Lee Avenue remains closed between Ninth and 10th streets during construction. Patients and guests can still reach the hospital by parking in the west parking garage off Ninth Street near Shartel Avenue and walking through the hospital's concourse or tunnel, according to SSM Health's location page for the Oklahoma City facility.
