U of U advances its plans for the West Valley City Medical Campus with a generous gift.
On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, the University of Utah announced a historic gift of $75 million from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation to help support funding an innovative new medical campus and hospital in West Valley City. The 800,000-square-foot campus is a major move toward expanding health care access for westside communities.
Transforming Health Care in West Valley City
Located in the state’s second-largest city, the new University of Utah Health campus will boast:
A 90-bed hospital
A 200-exam room multi-specialty outpatient clinic
Services like cardiology, orthopedics, women’s health, pediatrics, general medicine, and urgent care
Capacity to handle over 341,000 outpatient visits annually
Besides health care, the project will also create over 2,000 new jobs and bring new opportunities for medical education and career advancement to the region.
Filling a Vital Health Care Need
This will be the university’s first off-campus hospital since its founding 175 years ago and largest multi-specialty clinic. The expansion is vital to Salt Lake County, where more than 725,000 residents live west of I-15, yet only 10% of the county’s hospital beds are accessible to this population.
University of Utah Health CEO Dr. Bob Carter emphasized the significance of the project: “Westside residents travel over 12 million miles annually to access our health care services. This West Valley City medical campus will bring top-notch medical care closer. Even more important, it will expand medical education and help alleviate the region’s shortage of physicians, five times higher in western Salt Lake County than in other Wasatch Front communities.”
A Broader $855 Million Investment in Health, Education, and Jobs
The health sciences campus is part of an overall $855 million effort that seeks to:
Improve medical education, research, and workforce development
Promote regional economic growth
Improve access to specialty health care
Eccles Foundation advisory board member Katie Eccles Burnett commented on the long-term benefit of the project: “This is not just a hospital—it’s a jobs, training, and education investment for the entire community.”
Robust Community Participation in the Planning Process
Because the project was first proposed a year ago, hundreds of residents have attended stakeholder meetings to share their opinions regarding the campus development.
West Valley City Mayor Karen Lang was happy to see the investment: “As Utah’s second-largest metropolitan area, our need for hospital and specialty care continues to grow. The generosity of the University of Utah, Eccles family, and other donors is amazing. These state-of-the-art facilities will be a tremendous asset to our community.”
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West Valley City Medical Campus Advances: Project Timeline and Key Information
Groundbreaking: Summer 2025
Multi-specialty clinic completion: 2028
Hospital opening: 2029
Address: 3750 South and 5600 West, West Valley City (22-acre campus)
Fast Facts: U of U New West Valley City Medical Campus
$75M donation from the Eccles Foundation (part of $855M total investment)
800,000 square feet of medical facilities
90-bed hospital + 200 exam rooms
341,000+ outpatient visits per year
2,000+ new jobs and career opportunities
Construction will begin this summer, ushering in a new era of access to health care, economic development, and medical education for West Valley City and the region.
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