Sutter Health will invest $1 billion to expand its services across Northern California’s East Bay region, including a new flagship campus in Emeryville.
The health system announced Wednesday that the campus will feature a new medical center with up to 200 beds as well as a regional destination for ambulatory care. The plans also leave room for future expansion, according to the announcement.
The ambulatory services complex at the 12-acre campus will feature a wide array of specialties and will offer imaging and laboratory services. It expects to welcome its first patients as early as 2028, Sutter said.
The 335,000-square-foot medical center will include labor and delivery, surgical services, intensive care, emergency care and neonatal intensive care. The facility will be designed with the potential to add additional patient rooms in the future.
Sutter is targeting a 2032-33 opening date for the medical center, according to the announcement.
“Our Emeryville campus project represents one of the most significant investments we’re making across our system over the next decade and is part of our broader vision to meet the community’s growing demand for expanded access to our services across the East Bay footprint,” said Warner Thomas, president and CEO of Sutter Health, in the press release.
Sutter said it will put a focus on recruiting both primary care physicians and specialty care doctors, breaking down patient barriers to appointments and referrals and investing in initiatives to bolster the healthcare workforce. It expects to have 190 primary and specialty care clinicians staffing the new campus.
Beyond building the new campus, Sutter said it plans to grow the behavioral health services offered at its Herrick campus in Berkeley. The health system’s Alta Bates campus will continue to operate as an acute care facility until the new medical center opens in Emeryville and then will be overhauled to provide ambulatory surgery services, urgent care and potentially skilled nursing services.
The health system is also renovating a medical office building in Berkley to serve as a primary care facility that will also offer OB-GYN care, according to the announcement.
Additional renovations are in the works as well, Sutter said.
“Too many people face challenges in accessing the care they need,” Thomas said. “At Sutter, we’re committed to breaking down those barriers—expanding care facilities, enhancing imaging capabilities, improving online appointment scheduling and collaborating with the Sutter East Bay Medical Group and our community physician partners to attract more primary and specialty care physicians.
“These efforts will allow us to care for more patients while also investing in programs and partnerships that build the healthcare workforce of the future—ensuring more people get the right care when and where they need it,” he said.