Costco-turned-clinic almost ready to open in St. John’s – CTV
July 16, 2025
Construction crews in St. John’s, N.L., are heading into the final stretch of an ambitious renovation — turning an abandoned big box store into Newfoundland and Labrador’s newest health hub.
Officials say the ambulatory health hub and urgent care clinic coming to a former Costco warehouse is set to open Oct. 21. In a bid to ease crowding and traffic, it will bring services and patients from other hospitals into the new location.
“Things, in this facility, are where they need to be, rather than where they can be,” said Greg Browne, a manager of infrastructure at Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services.
That’s a contrast to other hospitals in the city — Browne said the second newest facility, the Health Sciences Centre, is approaching 50 years old.
“Stuff is designed, purpose built for patient care, rather than retrofitted and poked in, you know, where it can fit.”
The health board will pay around $4 million each year to lease the space, which is being constructed by a group of contractors calling themselves Newfoundland and Labrador Health Alliance.
The creation of the new clinic space was kick-started, Browne said, with the decision to rent a renovated building, rather than construct something from scratch.
