Sneak Peek: Riley Hospital tower - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

There is a new front door at Riley Hospital welcoming its 350,000 visitors every year. The front entrance to Riley off Barnhill - where the McDonald's sits in the lobby - is now the back of the building. The reconfigured atrium entrance used to be the back.  Now, it has a circle drive.  And to the west sits a new parking garage for 400 cars. 

The new address of 705 Riley Hospital Drive is not on Google maps just yet. You can access the new entrance from downtown by traveling west on either Michigan Street to the south, or 10th street to the north.  Eventually, Riley Hospital Drive will be four lanes connecting the two streets. 

The parking garage is now free for patients spending the night, and $2 for families with appointments.

Patients are already occupying floors 9, 8 and 7.

Dr. Jeff Sperring, President and CEO of Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health, said, "Before this building opened, Riley spent more days at capacity - more days full - than any other children's hospital in the country."

Crews are going through the punch lists on two more floors that will open soon. One will be dedicated to cancer, another will be the Neonatal Intensive Care unit.

"We learned by our previous cancer center and heart center that by grouping patients by speciality, we got better outcomes," Sperring said, "and so this allowed us to do that."

The Raiders are a Riley Family from Greenwood who got an exclusive sneak peak at the new tower after Blaine was diagnosed with a rare Leukemia when he was two.

He said it was "absolutely" the worst time of his young life.

His mother, Alisha, remembers the ordeal. "We were in probably a 10-by-12 glass room," she said. "I slept in a recliner for five months."

The quality of the Riley space has long lagged behind the medical outcomes. As the tower opens, that gap closes. And capacity is increased by 140 beds.  All rooms are private. 

"These kids aren't well, and they are getting sick in the night and they are crying," Alisha said, "and they were unable to sleep and they weren't able to function because of things that were going on in the rooms and the other kids in the rooms with them."

Doctors expect to admit 11,000 patients a year.

"I pray that we never have to come back and experience the rooms," Raider said. "But I'm so happy for the families that are going to be able to utilize the space, because it's going to make their stays so much easier."

Riley is celebrating the new front door, and opening of more patient floors, Wednesday at a 4:30 p.m. press event.  The governor and Cindy Skodt Simon will be there.  The Simon family donated $40 million to the project.