Wright City leaders have announced that the Mercy healthcare network has initiated plans to open a clinic in Wright City, offering the first such facility in the town of over 4,000 residents.

The Mercy clinic would be located in the shopping center at the corner of Wildcat Drive and the North Service Road, occupying nearly half the building, according to Mayor Michelle Heiliger. The clinic would be a general practice health facility.

“Mercy has identified this area as the next boom in growth, so this is where they determined their next facility needs to be, which is huge for us. It’s exciting,” said Heiliger. However, the mayor tempered expectations for a fast project by adding that Mercy still has to go through the city’s permitting and approval process before renovations begin.

City leaders discussed the outreach from Mercy during a public meeting on Aug. 25. The next day, Board of Aldermen President Ramiz Hakim confirmed through Facebook that Mercy has submitted a floor plan and applied for necessary city permits for the clinic location.

City officials said they’ve been told the clinic should be ready to start seeing patients sometime next year.

Although Wright City has previously had general practice doctors who work and see patients in town, this will be the first time the city has had a facility that was built specifically as a healthcare clinic. Alderman Hakim said the proposed clinic will be one of the positive results of a growing population that is attracting more services to the area.

“Now, for the first time ever, we will have a health clinic in town who can serve our community. Instead of us driving to a neighboring city, we can stay in town,” noted Hakim. “We are committed to healthy, wholesome, and planned growth. This new addition is exactly what our citizens need.”

Wright City building inspector Joe Godier said Mercy will not need to go through any public hearings or receive a special approval in order to launch the clinic, because the company is renovating and occupying an existing building in a commercial area. Mercy only needs to provide interior site plans that comply with city building code, and then undergo an occupancy inspection prior to opening.