St. Peter's Health buys old armory building on Last Chance Gulch

St. Peter’s Health has recently purchased The Armory building which sits at the corner of West Lyndale Ave and North Last Chance Gulch.

The Montana State Arsenal, Armory, and Drill Hall building, also known as The Armory Building, will be used for a variety of healthcare services. As of now, St. Peter’s expects to expand primary care, diagnostic imaging, laboratory, pharmacy, wellness, mental health, rehabilitation, and therapy services in the new clinic. This building will create easier access to Helena’s west side citizens. Construction and remodeling will likely begin in January of 2025. After renovations, the total cost is estimated at $27 million.

“So, we really want to be able to support the residents on the west side more effectively. There's currently no pharmacy, as an example, on the West side. So, we'll have an easy location for them to go to and just access to care, proximity to downtown, the businesses as well. We look forward to partnering with the community with the services that we'll be offering there and the programming that will be available there,” says CEO of St. Peter’s Health, Wade Johnson.

This will expand St. Peter’s outpatient clinics from 3 to 4. A third-party evaluation conducted in 2022 suggested that Helena will require 30 additional providers over the next 3 years to meet community needs. Nearly half of this need is for primary care or family medicine services.

“Our community continues to grow, and it continues to age. So, those two reasons alone have really driven the need for more providers and more care in Helena,” says Johnson.

Current tenants will transition out of the building over the next six months.