Sutter Health announced a $1 billion plan Wednesday to build a flagship campus and medical center near I-80 in Emeryville that will provide an initial 200 beds and almost as many clinicians by 2033.
The move comes nearly a decade after the health care giant warned that its Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley would shutter by 2030 because state-mandated seismic upgrades were infeasible for the 120-year-old complex — stirring fears of a “hospital desert” in the East Bay.
Sutter Health now plans to relocate a variety of medical services from that aging hospital on Ashby Avenue to a 12-acre property in Emeryville, which will expand local options for health care while reducing ambulance response times and patient commutes that can exceed an hour from certain areas in the region.
Once complete, the proposed 1.3 million-square-foot campus — bounded by Horton, Hollis and 53rd streets — will include emergency services, an intensive care unit, labor and delivery teams, neonatal intensive care, imaging equipment, operating rooms, hospital-based outpatient clinics and acute care services.
Specifically, 22 of the first 200 beds will be reserved for emergency care — mirroring the current capacity at Alta Bates.
Sutter Health acquired the Emery Yards biotech and life sciences campus to complete this massive project, eying an empty lot on the site to construct a 335,000-square-foot medical center. Outpatient and acute care services will also be offered within two existing buildings on the property as early as 2028, in addition to a nearly 2,000-space parking garage recently built next door.
However, Sutter Health has committed to keep Alta Bates open as an acute care facility for at least another seven years, or until construction in Emeryville is complete. That Berkeley campus will then transition into an ambulatory surgery center and 24/7 urgent care clinic, which may also provide skilled nursing services down the line. Compared to hospitals, seismic standard upgrades for these types of urgent care centers in California are cheaper and less rigorous.
Warner Thomas, president and CEO of Sutter Health, said the Emeryville campus is one of the company’s most significant investments over the next decade to expand its existing network of facilities, attract physicians and improve appointment scheduling – completing an “integrated care continuum” in the East Bay.
“Having a multi-specialty clinic — with physicians of different specialties all working together as a team — is a much better model that’s improving across the country,” Thomas told Bay Area News Group, emphasizing the ability for Sutter to hire more doctors, nurses, clinicians and support staff at a bigger facility, rather than retrofit older buildings. “This kind of integrated care — ambulatory services with a hospital right next door — is a really big plus for patients.”
For years, local officials tried to find a workaround to Sutter Health’s previous proposal to move its Ashby Avenue hub to Oakland’s Pill Hill campus.
Berkeley spent $300,000 last February to study how Alta Bates’ closure would impact the region and solutions to prevent that fate for the 850,000 residents in Alta Bates’ service area — where, according to a report by the city, 44% are people of color and 36% are below 200% of the federal poverty level. Moreover, roughly 13% of residents near Alta Bates are over the age of 65, and UC Berkeley students account for thousands of emergency visits and other health referrals.
In November, former Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin and Councilmember Sophie Hahn introduced an initiative in November to start officially exploring the feasibility of publicly financing the construction of a new public hospital to serve the East Bay with neighboring jurisdictions. Following Wednesday’s announcement, the newly elected state senator said in a statement that the new facility in Emeryville “is a testament to that collective effort” from the community to expand healthcare services.
Related Articles
Valley Medical Center dedicates building in honor of iconic Santa Clara County supervisor
Water company extracts $1 million from San Jose deal near Kaiser mega-project
Janitor boss convicted of 2021 sex assault at Palo Alto VA hospital
Kaiser investigation leads to halted research, top doctors disciplined
Santa Clara County finalizes agreement over purchase of Regional Medical Center
Mayor Adena Ishii, who was elected in November, lauded Sutter Health’s decision to preserve care — allowing the city to focus on providing its “bread and butter” services, such as housing, homelessness and public safety.
In addition to urgent care resources like diagnostic labs, blood draw stations, advanced imaging technologies and treatment areas, Ishii also applauded Sutter Health’s commitment to simultaneously expand behavioral health at its Herrick campus near downtown Berkeley, add primary care exam rooms near the Ashby BART station and tailor acute, crisis and outpatient care for mental health conditions and substance use disorders at Alta Bates.
“Of course, we would have loved to have the emergency room stay in Berkeley … but what’s most important is that we still have access to that emergency room care nearby, and Alta Bates is still going to be committed to the city of Berkeley,” Ishii said. “Those are really important services that our community can still utilize.”
Sutter Health’s expansion will have ripple effects across the East Bay.
Supervisor John Gioia, who represents communities in west Contra Costa County, said if ambulance units can transport and unload patients faster at a hospital right off I-80 — as opposed to driving through several miles of congested arterial roadways — that will help increase availability for all residents.
“Local government doesn’t have a billion dollars to build a new hospital,” Gioia said Wednesday, adding that he’s not aware of any ongoing plans for Kaiser, John Muir, Sutter or even UC San Francisco to expand services in his district. “While this (Emeryville expansion) does not replace the need for a hospital here West County, it does provide benefits to all residents.”
