Intermountain Health has revealed plans for a new Intermountain LDS Hospital in downtown Salt Lake City.
The facility, which would be located on an approximately eight-acre site that had been the longtime home to a Sears store that closed in 2018, would “anchor a major downtown development and provide a modern, patient-centered environment designed to meet the evolving healthcare needs of Salt Lake County, South Davis County, and the broader Intermountain region.”
The health system stated that, upon analysis of “community health needs, patient trends, facility requirements, and long-term growth projections,” it determined that constructing a replacement hospital would “provide greater value and flexibility than modernizing the existing campus, which is in a residential neighborhood in Salt Lake City’s Avenues District.”
The proposed 10-story hospital is planned to feature more than 521,000 square feet of space, an attached seven-story medical office building, and a public plaza that creates a “welcoming gathering space that connects Main Street and State Street, enhancing the surrounding neighborhood.”
“Our vision extends beyond building a hospital,” stated Eric Liston, president of Intermountain Health’s Canyons Region, which includes Utah and Idaho. “We’re helping create a healthier, stronger downtown Salt Lake City.”
The campus would also feature a “full-service emergency department, behavioral health access center, imaging center, ambulatory surgery center, endoscopy services, pharmacy, laboratory, dialysis center, 24/7 intensive care unit, orthopedic services, neurology, cardiology, pulmonary medicine, rehabilitation services, gastroenterology, urology, wound care, and other specialty programs.”
Intermountain Health stated that construction planning and development activities for the hospital are” currently underway with work to prepare the site for the building project.” Project milestones and timelines will be announced “as they become available later this year,” it stated.
The health system added that “no final decisions have been made regarding the future use of the current Intermountain LDS Hospital campus” after the new hospital opens. “It will continue to serve patients as a full-service community hospital while hospital leaders determine its long-term use when the new downtown hospital opens,” stated Intermountain Health.
