U. launches construction of its first off-campus hospital, with help from the ‘most impactful’ Eccles gift ever

West Valley City • Dreams came true Friday for building a major life-changing source of health care on the Salt Lake Valley’s west side.

In a colorful ceremony in West Valley City’s Centennial Park, University of Utah officials and other dignitaries broke ground on a new state-of-the-art hospital and medical campus.

Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson joined a bevy of over 100 U. officials, state and city leaders and community members who’ve helped guide the hospital’s planning in a ritual shoveling of dirt to launch construction.

Initial phases of the 800,000-square-foot hospital and supporting medical offices at 3784 S. 5600 West are to open around 2028, in what will be the U.’s first off-campus hospital in its 175-year history and its largest medical facility ever.

The 22-acre site — to be called the University of Utah Eccles Health Campus and Eccles Hospital in West Valley — will also be the west side’s first sizable and integrated medical institution of its kind, offering an emergency department, 130 inpatient rooms, 200 exam rooms and substantial support offices for nearly 50 specialties.

The hospital is seen as a major turning point in the quality of life, economic prospects and health outcomes for tens of thousands of people living west of Interstate 15, where historic metrics reveal disadvantaged residents in particular as long underserved for hospital care.

“Just because health care services are available does not mean that they are accessible,” Henderson said, “and we are taking a huge step today in providing accessible major health care to the people on the west side of I-15, and I am so grateful.”

Friday’s ceremony was set on a stage amid West Valley City’s yearly WestFest, which commemorates its 1980 founding. The actual groundbreaking culminated with 15 officials and community members donning red hard hats, turning red shovels and shouting, “Go Utes!”

Big lift for Utah’s ‘Second City’

The main hospital, medical office building, parking structures and tree-lined campus will cost an estimated $855 million when fully built — sometime in 2029 or beyond — with capacity to one day serve more than 426,000 patients a year.

New renderings released by the U. on the eve of Friday’s launch show two sleekly designed earth-toned mid-rise structures with rectangular surfaces.

Both the primary hospital, with emergency department, and the medical office building feature prominent north-facing facades and are set well back from 5600 West. Around them are substantial low-rise supporting structures to the south and tree-covered grounds buffering the entire site from the street with intermittent green spaces.

[A West Valley City medical student carries high hopes for the new hospital.]

Estimates are the hospital’s location — along 5600 West between 3700 South and 3800 South, immediately east of the Mountain View Corridor — could save up to 12 million miles of travel for west-siders, who for generations have otherwise trudged eastward for their major medical needs.

“This hospital is going to be staffed by professionals who respect our community and share similar feelings on education and resilience,” said Dennis Menjivar, a U. medical student and West Valley City resident. “It’s going to provide local students with chances to shadow providers, network in health care and find a path into this field, no matter where you start.”

In the works at least since 2022, when the Utah Legislature first began boosting the U.’s ability to borrow in order to fund the project, Friday’s event now heralds an anticipated boon for West Valley City and surrounding communities.

Utah’s second largest city alone expects to see up to 2,000 new jobs created by the massive medical campus, along with a regional economic boost from related commerce.

Touting the event as a milestone in U. history, school President Taylor Randall thanked the many partners who made the hospital possible and said it would invigorate the U., the communities it serves directly and the state as a whole.

“We believe that, together, this project will not only save lives, it also will start educational processes to work,” Randall said, “not only in our hospital, but in the hospitals around the country, in the hospitals all around our state. It will make all of us different.”

Randall has noted that the complex will have “remarkable societal impact” — citing 10-year differences in the life expectancies of some nearby west-side neighborhoods, compared to counterparts elsewhere in the state.

He called newly released renderings of the hospital’s design “gorgeous” and “absolutely fabulous.”

“There is so much that’s gone on,” Randall said, “in terms of trying to make this a culturally appropriate place to deliver health care to your community.”

The U. president also praised the work of city officials, including West Valley City Mayor Karen Lang and Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson, who were in attendance.

“Our mayors have just done a remarkable job,” Randall said, “in making sure that we are able to get things done.”

The Eccles legacy

Randall reserved his highest thanks, though, for the Eccles family.

“There are many times when we face things in life and you wonder, ‘Who is going to help us accomplish this?’ I’m going to tell you almost always, you can say the Eccles family,” he said. “I am so grateful for that, because for our university and now this community that is who is supporting us 100% all the way through.”

Eccles family members are longtime philanthropic supporters of the U. and other humanitarian causes. The Eccles name on the campus follows a landmark gift announced in March toward the hospital from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation of $75 million, the largest in the charity’s 67-year history and the biggest ever given to Utah’s flagship university.

Spence Eccles received a standing ovation at Friday’s ceremony.

“We’re all thrilled with this extraordinary accomplishment,” the 90-year-old philanthropist said. “It’s one that will bring together the best of Utah, namely expert medical providers, educators, top-notch medical students and now, most importantly, the wonderful people of this vibrant community itself.”

Daughter Lisa Eccles, the foundation’s president and chief operating officer, noted her dad mentioned this “may be the most impactful” gift ever from the philanthropic group.

“I couldn’t agree more,” she said, “especially when we think of the lives and the families that this hospital will touch and serve. ... So we are all-in. This will truly be another crown jewel for this community and our state.”

She earned chuckles from the audience when she recounted an exchange with her father before the event.

“When we were driving here, my dad said, ‘I hope the check clears,’” Lisa Eccles recalled. “I said, ‘If you’re worried, I’m worried.’”

Now to unfold in phases

The University of Utah Hospital on the school’s east-bench campus remains the state’s largest, at about 613 inpatient beds. The U.’s venture westward is part of a broader spate of on-campus construction and notable expansion off campus, with multiple new satellite locations planned across Salt Lake County.

West Valley City’s new campus has been carefully designed with extensive outreach to residents, U. officials have said, to optimize its community focus and benefits. Efforts toward getting the hospital funded, planned and fully designed have run alongside the creation of new U. programs to attract more residents into health care professions.

Construction of this west-side site, however, had lagged due to rising costs.

With Okland Construction as its general contractor, the U. now intends to build the campus over several phases, with a multispecialty outpatient center coming first around 2028. That will offer an emergency department, exam rooms and some specialty care.

Inpatient hospital beds, labor and delivery rooms, and additional surgical facilities are to follow, along with what the U. says will be a retail and specialty pharmacy, gift shop, cafe and coffee shop, wellness spaces, a chapel, and community gathering areas.

Those are to open around 2029, with subsequent phases to follow.

While the sweeping campus brings the promise of a brighter health care future for underserved communities, advocate Liliana Martínez sees something more at play.

“As we get closer to having a hospital, I see this not as a combination of buildings, but as a new beginning,” said the Westside Community United member, “a beginning of opportunities for young kids like my own children, opportunities where the community gets to grow its skills and knowledge, new partnerships and economic opportunities.”