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For the first time since it moved from Salt Lake City's Avenues neighborhood 22 years ago, Primary Children's Hospital is opening a major new expansion.

The George S. and Dolores Dore' Eccles Primary Children's Outpatient Services building, connected by skybridge over Mario Capecchi Drive with the main hospital, will open Oct. 7 after two years of construction. It cost nearly $134 million.

Katy Welkie, the hospital's chief executive and administrator, and Mike Creason, assistant administrator and construction manager, gave reporters and photographers a tour of the new six-story building Thursday morning.

An invitation-only ribbon cutting is planned for 10:30 a.m. Monday. A public open house runs from 3 to 8 p.m. Monday.

The building, which is nearly a third the size of the main hospital, is for those visiting the hospital briefly for doctor appointments or procedures.

"We see much more growth in outpatient care than in in-patient care," Welkie said.

The new building is designed with children and families in mind, from benches rather than chairs in the 67 examination rooms, to a Kids Clubhouse where children can play, supervised, during their siblings' doctor visits.

Waiting rooms will be equipped with games, digital and otherwise.

The Mountainside Café, with a pizza oven and gelato machine, is in the lobby of the new building, and has large family-sized booths where children can be easily corralled. A large sink, high on one end for adults and low on the other for children, is part of the cafeteria to encourage good hygiene.

The hospital's Family Advisory Council gave suggestions for the design.

Thirty-two of Primary Children's clinics will move to the new building, opening up much-needed space in the main hospital, which will get enlarged operating rooms, laboratories and a new pharmacy. The oncology department will remain in the main hospital.

Children who need kidney dialysis will, for the first time, get that service at Primary Children's new outpatient building rather than at University Hospital.

The new building has a lab to take specimens from patients. Families can use a nearby desktop computer to get help from medical librarians in researching afflictions.

Beginning in early 2015, parents will be able to talk by video phones with pharmacists in the main hospital, and prescriptions — like lab samples — will move between the buildings via pneumatic tubes.

The added space will allow Primary to move clinics back to the main campus from buildings in Research Park and near Trolley Square, Welkie said.

Of the 200,000 square feet, 33,000 will be left open for future expansion, Creason said.

A new parking terrace adds 900 spaces, relieving a longstanding shortage. Some 400 employees have been shuttling to and from the hospital for about five years, he said.

kmoulton@sltrib.com

Twitter: @KristenMoulton —

Public invited

P A public open house is planned for Monday from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.