BRANSON, Mo. – Work is well underway on Mercy’s new multi-million dollar multi-specialty health clinic in Branson.

The $22-million center will replace the Oak Ridge Boys Theatre that sat at the corner of 65 and Highway 248 for years.

Mercy broke ground on its largest addition to the Tri-Lakes area back in 2016, but project manager, Eric Fawcett, says work was underway long before the golden shovels hit the ground.

“We reached out to the community to say, ‘where to do you see the biggest need at?’” he says.

Fawcett says Mercy not only wanted to tailor new services to the community but also tailor the clinic’s design to its hilltop location.

“When we looked at the orientation of the building, we really wanted to capture the Ozark Mountains,” he says.

“Our oncology side is on the southeast corner of the property, so that overlooks Hollister and all the beautiful mountains,” Fawcett says.

Drivers who had grown accustomed to seeing the Oak Ridge Boys Theatre from Highway 65 shouldn’t have any trouble catching a glimpse of the new clinic. Fawcett says the theatre was roughly 37-thousand square feet; the new clinic will be close to 50-thousand.

“We will have a procedure room,” says Mercy vice president of regional operations, Jenine Vincent, “so we will be able to provide scope services, colonoscopies… pain procedures.”

“We’re not able to provide those right now, they will be a new service for us,” she says.

Vincent says one of the driving forces behind those new offerings, along with several others, is saving patients a trip to Springfield in the future.

One example that should save patients a drive up 65 will be telemedicine care.

“We will be able to virtually wire in to that physician in Springfield,” says Vincent. “And the patient can receive that specialty visit without actually traveling to Springfield.”

The new clinic will also improve existing primary care options that are already in the Branson area such as expanded Urgent Care hours.

Mercy is currently eyeing an opening date sometime in late summer or early fall of 2017.

“[The construction] a beautiful sight,” says Fawcett. “We’re excited to get it started.”