The former headquarters of Panera Bread in Sunset Hills is being transformed into a sprawling new medical campus, with BJC HealthCare and Washington University School of Medicine preparing to welcome their first patients this fall. The Center for Advanced Medicine–Sunset Hills will sit at 3630 S. Geyer Road and bring together primary care, specialty care and diagnostic services under one roof.
According to WashU Medicine, the new facility spans 117,000 square feet and is designed to bring together WashU Medicine specialty care, BJC Medical Group primary care and advanced diagnostic services in a single location. BJC HealthCare, however, describes the related project as a 147,695-square-foot renovation — a discrepancy between the two organizations' public descriptions of the same undertaking that has not been otherwise explained. The Business Journal also reported on Panera Bread's former corporate headquarters property.
A Long List of Specialties Under One Roof
Once open, the center plans to offer orthopedics, cardiology, gastroenterology, endocrinology, pulmonary medicine, rheumatology, ophthalmology, ENT, obstetrics and gynecology, geriatrics, internal medicine, family medicine and occupational therapy, per the WashU Medicine announcement. The facility's integrated approach will also include outpatient surgery, diagnostic testing and imaging, the same release notes. An Orthopedic Injury Clinic is also planned, offering walk-in care, same-day appointments and Saturday hours — a feature aimed at patients who need quick access to orthopedic treatment without waiting for a scheduled visit.
The Sunset Hills project marks the third Center for Advanced Medicine that BJC HealthCare and WashU Medicine have built together. The original Center for Advanced Medicine opened in 2002 on the Washington University Medical Campus, and the second, at 5201 Midamerica Plaza in South County, opened in 2016, according to the same WashU Medicine announcement.
From Panera's Headquarters to a Health Campus
BJC HealthCare purchased the former Panera Bread headquarters property in Sunset Hills, the station's report on the acquisition confirmed. Separately, permits for work totaling over $8.7 million have been approved in St. Louis County for the buildout of a new outpatient center, as reported by St. Louis Business Journal earlier this year.
Separately, BJC's own listing for the BJC Outpatient Center at Sunset Hills places that facility at 3844 S. Lindbergh Blvd., describing a location where patients receive care from BJC Medical Group providers, WashU Medicine physicians and private-practice physicians, according to BJC's facility page. That same listing notes that Missouri Baptist Medical Center provides lab and imaging services there while Barnes-Jewish Hospital handles infusion services. The dossier does not clarify whether this Lindbergh Boulevard location and the Geyer Road center represent the same project, separate facilities, or different addresses tied to the same broader development.
Part of a Broader Outpatient Push
BJC's planning documents describe the Sunset Hills project as a multi-specialty facility that will include both BJC Medical Group and WashU Medicine outpatient care, with services spanning non-oncology infusion, lab services, outpatient procedural services, and imaging. The imaging component is planned as a joint venture with Outpatient Imaging Affiliates, per BJC's own planning page.
The Sunset Hills opening arrives as BJC HealthCare and WashU Medicine pursue outpatient expansion elsewhere in the region. St. Louis Children's Hospital and WashU Medicine are planning a pediatric outpatient specialty care center in Wentzville, projected to open in late 2027. That three-story, 133,000-square-foot facility at 45 Wentzville Parkway would be the third Specialty Care Center the two organizations have built in the St. Louis area, following locations that opened in 2015 in west St. Louis County and in 2021 in South County, according to WashU Medicine's announcement on the Wentzville project.
