California’s East Bay Area to Welcome $1 Billion Healthcare Campus
By Fay Harvey
EMERYVILLE, Calif. — Northern California’s East Bay Area will soon have a fully integrated healthcare continuum thanks to the construction of a new $1 billion health campus and the repurposing of older medical facilities.
Unveiled this month, plans for Sutter Health’s 12-acre flagship campus feature an ambulatory care center and adjacent medical center, greatly expanding health services across the region. Inside the new facilities, patients will find specialty primary care clinics, destination advanced care centers, urgent care facilities and ambulatory surgical centers. The plan will require the hiring of more physicians, addressing current barriers to care such as setting appointments and receiving referrals.
“Our community has long advocated for expanded healthcare services,” said California Sen. Jesse Arreguín in a statement. “This new facility in Emeryville is a testament to that collective effort. I look forward to continuing our partnership with Sutter Health to ensure that East Bay residents receive the high-quality emergency and primary care they need and deserve.”
A Look at the Campus
A new medical center on the 1.3 million-square-foot campus will offer 200 beds alongside an array of services including labor and delivery, an all-ages intensive care unit, emergency services, operating rooms and more. Comprising 335,000 square feet, the facility will include space for additional bed additions as the community expands and is slated to open in 2028.
Across the street from the medical center, the campus will feature two buildings designated for outpatient services. At 530,000 square feet, the ambulatory care complex will house clinics for neurology, pulmonary care, rheumatology, dermatology, non-chemotherapy infusion and OB/GYN graduate medical education. In addition to clinics, various centers for women, orthopedics, surgery, digestive diseases and pediatrics will be available.
The Emeryville campus will also receive medical office space and parking space for 1,992 vehicles.
“To truly meet the needs of our neighbors and deliver more services to our patients, we’re making meaningful investments in all of our communities,” said Tosan Boyo, president of Sutter’s Greater East Bay Division, in statement. “By adding new facilities and services, we’re making it easier for patients to access Sutter’s high-caliber care from our Sutter medical group physician partners.”
East Bay Health Additions
According to Sutter Health research, meeting community demand for healthcare in the East Bay Area is a pressing challenge. To combat this, Sutter Health will continue utilizing older facilities to meet rising community needs.
For more than a century, Sutter Health’s Alta Bates campus in Berkeley, Calif., has served the region and will remain operational even after the new complex opens. However, the existing campus will be transformed into an ambulatory surgery center and urgent care clinic with future plans to integrate skilled nursing services. Additionally, the space will feature room for on-site resources such as imaging, treatment, diagnostic blood labs and blood drawing stations.
Alta Bates’ Herrick Center will treat patients facing mental health conditions and substance use disorders. Specialized care will be available to patients with complex and serious conditions to provide tailored care for various levels of need. Adjacent, a 10,000-square-foot medical office building is currently being built to offer dedicated OB/GYN services and is set to open in spring 2025.
In Oakland, Calif., the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center will soon be home to a $400 million Stanford Medicine Sutter Health Cancer Center. Set to open in November 2026, the 167,000-square-foot, five-story building will offer advanced cancer care alongside imaging, radiation, oncology, infusion services and an ambulatory surgery center.
To achieve Sutter Health’s goal of enriching the healthcare workforce, the organization plans to grow its Graduate Medical Education Program to train 1,000 resident and fellow physicians by 2030. With the expanded education program and other medicinal residency programs at the Sutter East Bay Medical Foundation, 95 primary care providers will be employed in the Oakland and Berkeley health networks by 2028, according to a Sutter Health statement.
“Too many people face challenges in accessing the care they need,” said Sutter Health CEO Warner Thomas in a statement. “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.”