SALT LAKE CITY — After more than a century in the Avenues neighborhood in Salt Lake City, the LDS Hospital is preparing to move downtown.
Intermountain Health on Wednesday formally announced plans to relocate the hospital to the former Sears property near State Street and 700 South, where it plans to build a new medical campus.
The Intermountain Health board approved the project last week. The health system hopes to break ground before the end of 2026, although some planning approvals are still pending. Once construction begins, officials estimate the project will take three to five years to complete.
Dr. Harland Hayes, chief medical officer at LDS Hospital, said the move is intended to make the hospital easier for patients and families to reach.
“We have been planning this. We’ve been hoping for this for a while and are thrilled that we are going to be in a location that is easier to access,” Hayes said.
The approximately 8-acre site is close to Interstate 15 and public transit. Intermountain purchased the former Sears property in 2021, three years after the department store closed. Salt Lake City approved a rezone for the project in 2024. Plans submitted to the city last month showed a multibuilding campus with a main hospital building reaching about 208 feet.
Hayes said Utah’s growing population and increasing demand on hospitals are also driving the move.
“Many of our hospitals are at capacity,” Hayes said. “So we need hospitals that can meet the needs of the volume, that are easier to access.”
Intermountain says the new LDS Hospital will provide trauma and critical care, women’s services, pediatrics, oncology and behavioral health services.
The behavioral health component has already drawn attention from Salt Lake County leaders, who recently asked that the new hospital maintain — and, if possible, expand — the inpatient behavioral health capacity now offered at LDS Hospital.
For Salt Lake City, the project will also transform a property that has remained largely undeveloped since Sears was demolished.
Mayor Erin Mendenhall said the vacant property became jokingly known by some residents as “Sears Lake” after water collected on the site.
“The change that’s about to happen here … is a major upgrade for this area,” Mendenhall said.
One familiar part of the property will remain. Mendenhall said Intermountain incorporated space for the taco carts that have become a fixture on the block, with a designated area for food trucks and vendors planned for the new campus.
“They heard the community who said the taco carts are a priority for us,” Mendenhall said.
One major question remains unanswered: What happens to the current LDS Hospital campus?
Intermountain has not yet determined the future of the Avenues property and officials said Wednesday some medical services could potentially remain there.
LDS Hospital opened in 1905 and has remained in the Avenues for more than 120 years.
“We really don’t know yet what will happen with the LDS Hospital campus in the Avenues,” Mendenhall said.
Intermountain says it plans to continue working with the surrounding community as it determines the future of the longtime hospital property.
