Hospital, Retail & Possibly Hotel Planned for North Phoenix
HonorHealth plans to build a full-service acute-care hospital on 60 acres along the east side of I-17 about one mile south of Carefree Highway. The Sonoran Medical Center will be built next to the company’s Sonoran Health and Emergency Center, which opened in 2013.
The hospital is planned to ultimately have up to 300 beds but would open with fewer, said HonorHealth spokesperson Jeff Holeman. Additional possibilities for the newly purchased property include a hotel, senior housing facility, pharmacy, fitness center and retail establishments related to health and wellness, Holeman told In&Out.
Services at the hospital, targeted for completion within three years, would be similar to those at HonorHealth’s 204-bed Deer Valley Medical Center at I-17 and Loop 101. Deer Valley is designated as a Level 3 Trauma Center (Level 1 handles the most severe cases). It has not been determined what level of trauma care the new hospital will provide. Sonoran Health and Emergency Center is not a trauma center.
One of Two New Health Centers
The news comes on the heels of last month’s announcement that HonorHealth plans to construct a smaller health center in Anthem to provide MRIs and CT scans, sports medicine and possibly sleep therapy, as well as outpatient care for immediate, non-emergency situations.
“The community is growing exponentially,” Holeman told In&Out. “People who live there have long wanted a hospital.”
HonorHealth bought the 60 acres last week for $30.6 million from developer Westcor, now a subsidiary of the Macerich Company. The transaction was first reported by the Arizona Republic.
Lots of Land
The purchase brings HonorHealth’s total contiguous plot to 85 acres, bordered by Dove Valley Road to the south, I-17 to the west, and Skunk Creek wash to the east. The property is split by 32nd Avenue. It’s northern boundary is half a mile south of Carefree Highway.
For comparison, the Shops at Norterra, including Harkins Theatres, Best Buy and the rest of the retail center and its extensive parking lot, occupies about 75 acres.
The overall plan is to create a “health and wellness campus,” Holeman explained. It’s common to build a hotel near a hospital, he said, to accommodate out-of-town family members. Some sort of senior housing might make sense too, he said, but no firm plans have been made on these or any of the retail-store options. HonorHealth would work with other developers on such projects.
The precise location of the new hospital building has not been determined, but it would be near the existing emergency center building. The existing building might be converted to medical offices, Holeman said, its services subsumed into the new building.
