UofU announces $75 million gift for West Valley hospital and health care campus

The University of Utah has announced a $75 million gift from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation to establish a new 800,000-square-foot hospital and medical campus in West Valley City.

The gift will enable the construction of the university’s first off-campus hospital in its 175-year history and its largest multi-specialty health clinic, the institution said in a release.

“This expansion is a vital step in increasing health care access across Salt Lake County, ensuring that the more than 725,000 residents living west of I-15 have greater access to hospital care, where currently only one in 10 hospital beds serve the area,” the university statement said.

The new campus will anchor an $855 million university initiative that extends beyond health care delivery, providing additional training, research and educational opportunities, and career development in health care while catalyzing economic development that will build local prosperity, the release continued.

“This groundbreaking investment continues the Eccles family’s extraordinary legacy of expanding health care access and education across Utah,” said Taylor Randall, president of the University of Utah. “For 60 years, the Eccles family has offered both unwavering leadership and financial support for excellence in health care throughout the state. In fact, in 1965 a critical contribution from Spencer S. Eccles helped establish the U’s medical library and George S. Eccles chaired the first fundraising campaign to build the University of Utah Hospital in 1975. Most recently, the family made a monumental gift to the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine in 2021. We are so grateful to the Eccles family for their leadership in expanding access to UofU Health’s outstanding medical care, ensuring more west-side communities have the high-quality health care they deserve.”

Located in Utah’s second-largest city, the new University of Utah Health campus will feature approximately 100 hospital beds and comprehensive multi-specialty outpatient clinics, including heart care, orthopedics, women’s health and pediatrics, in addition to general internal medicine and urgent care. With 200 exam rooms, the clinics are expected to serve more than 341,000 outpatient visits annually. The campus will also provide additional pathways for education and career advancement in medical fields, creating over 2,000 new jobs in the West Valley area.

“We’re thrilled to partner with the West Valley community to expand access to high-quality health care on the west side,” said Bob Carter, CEO of University of Utah Health. “Currently, west side residents drive more than 12 million miles per year to access UofU Health services. This new campus is exciting because it will bring comprehensive, top-tier health care closer to home. We also see this project as key to expanding educational opportunities and helping to address our shortage of doctors, which is five times greater in western Salt Lake County than in other Wasatch Front communities.”

“As a family and as a foundation, we are so thrilled about this project because this community — right here in our Salt Lake Valley — has not had access to the kind of world-class medical care that they deserve,” said Spencer F. Eccles, chairman and CEO of the Eccles Foundation. “Our hope is that this hospital and health campus will become an indispensable community resource, a hub for superior health care, education and training, and expanded economic opportunity. This campus will be a win-win-win for those living in West Valley and all along the Wasatch Front for years to come.”

The campus will be located on 22 acres at 3750 South and 5600 West in West Valley City.