A new, glistening hospital is coming to central Salt Lake City.

But that news, first announced in 2023, has triggered fears that a historic medical campus in the city’s oldest neighborhood would be sold off en masse in a corresponding move.

On Wednesday morning, though, Intermountain Health officials assuaged some of those concerns. The plan, for now, is to keep some outpatient services at the site of the current — and 121-year-old — LDS Hospital in the Avenues.

“We have a medical office building that has services that can and should remain in the Avenues,” LDS Hospital President Heather Wall said, “because it’s specifically for surrounding communities.”

Some parts of the Avenues campus will certainly be shut down in the coming decades, though, Wall added. One towering question remains: What to do with the main hospital building itself, which is in good condition?

Wall said it would take three to five years to build the new medical campus on the block at State Street and 800 South — once home to a Sears department store and currently home to the murky, but bird-friendly Sears Lake. At that point, the company will study the area’s healthcare needs and see if there’s a role for the main LDS Hospital building.

Some work has already started on the Sears block. Crews began cleaning up contaminated soil on the property earlier this summer.

Recent renderings submitted to City Hall by the healthcare chain show a 10-story hospital tower with an attached medical office building. The drawings also featured green space, two parking garages and a food truck plaza — where the block’s famous taco carts could set up if they’d like, Wall said.

The rationale for the move is relatively simple. Intermountain Health believes it needs to expand the services it can offer to patients and the current LDS Hospital is inadequate — and less accessible than the Sears site.

“The existing campus, as you know, that’s been surrounded by a residential neighborhood, has faced some very real limitations,” Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said. “We’ve grown. Our population has grown. Our economy has grown.”

Mendenhall also touted the city’s role in shaping the new campus’ look and helping company leaders plan for a facility that’s set to be a part of the neighborhood it’s landing in. The hospital, for example, will include some ground-floor shops open to the public, like a pharmacy.

“This is a once-in-a-generation investment in the health and well-being of our community,” Ralph Jean-Mary, who leads the chain’s central Utah market, said in a news release. “The new Intermountain LDS Hospital reflects our unwavering commitment to providing safe, high-quality, accessible care to residents.”

Before construction can start in earnest, the city’s planning commission will have to sign off on Intermountain Health’s drawings.