Growth plan features a new acute care medical center, primary and specialty care clinics, destination advanced care centers, urgent care facilities and ambulatory surgery centers.  
  

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — Building on its 120-year tradition of caring for Northern Californians, Sutter Health today announced a transformational plan to expand access to its comprehensive, integrated and coordinated high-quality care across the greater East Bay region. As part of this phased approach, Sutter will construct a flagship campus in the City of Emeryville featuring a regional destination ambulatory care complex and a new medical center with an initial capacity of up to 200 beds and room for future expansion. The plan prioritizes recruiting primary care and specialty physicians, reducing barriers for patients when scheduling appointments and obtaining referrals for care, and investing in programs and partnerships to strengthen the healthcare workforce.  

“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.   

“Too many people face challenges in accessing the care they need. 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,” said Thomas.   

Sutter Emeryville Campus: A Regional Healthcare Destination 

Sutter is investing more than $1 billion to expand services across the East Bay, ensuring patients will be able to conveniently reach comprehensive care within a 15-minute drive from home or work. At the heart of this regional expansion is the newly acquired, 12-acre Sutter Emeryville Campus at Horton and 53rd streets, which will serve as a key healthcare destination.  

When complete, the new medical campus (approximately 1.3 million sq. ft.) in the heart of Emeryville will offer outpatient services at two existing buildings (approximately 530,000 sq. ft.) at 5555 Hollis Street and 5300 Chiron Street plus acute care services at a newly constructed medical center adjacent to the Hollis Street property. The Sutter Emeryville campus will also offer medical office space and parking at an existing 1,992-space parking garage.    

“This plan ensures our East Bay patients have seamless access to the full spectrum of Sutter’s integrated services—from primary and specialty outpatient care to imaging, lab and diagnostic services, to ambulatory surgery, urgent care, and inpatient services at the new Sutter Emeryville campus,” said Arzou Ahsan, M.D., president and CEO of Sutter East Bay Medical Group.   

“I am excited that Sutter Health is continuing its commitment to healthcare access for the East Bay region with this new medical center,” said state Sen. Jesse Arreguín. “Our community has long advocated for expanded healthcare services and 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.” 

Key Features of the Sutter Emeryville Campus 

• A new ambulatory care complex offering hospital-based outpatient clinics (neuroscience, rheumatology, pulmonary, dermatology, non-chemotherapy infusion), orthopedic center, physical therapy, ophthalmology, women’s center, pediatrics, digestive diseases and surgery, OB/GYN graduate medical education clinic, urology, ear, nose and throat (ENT), audiology, endoscopy center, urgent care, imaging and laboratory. The first ambulatory patients are expected as early as 2028.  

• Destination advanced centers in neuroscience, orthopedics, women’s health, primary care, urgent care, imaging, and other specialty clinics.  

• Approximately 190 primary and specialty care clinicians.  

• A new medical center (approximately 335,000 sq. ft.) with up to 200 beds is slated to include labor and delivery, neonatal intensive care, an ICU, emergency services, imaging services, operating rooms, private patient rooms and additional space for future bed expansion. The target opening for the new medical center is 2032-2033. When it opens, the new Emeryville medical center will replace the acute care services at 2450 Ashby Ave. in Berkeley. The Ashby campus will be reimagined to encompass an ambulatory surgery center, urgent care clinic, and possibly skilled nursing services. These new services offered in Berkeley will complete the integrated care continuum in the East Bay. 

Expanding Healthcare Access  

Timely access to high-quality healthcare is a pressing challenge across the country, and the need is great in the Bay Area where the demand is high. Sutter’s research shows thousands of residents in the East Bay service area want to receive their care at Sutter from a Sutter-aligned physician.  

 “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. “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.”  

More Services Offered Throughout East Bay Communities 

For more than a century, Alta Bates has cared for the Berkeley community, and Sutter’s new comprehensive East Bay expansion plan builds on that strong legacy by focusing on enhancing the health and well-being of Sutter patients and its workforce for years to come:  

• The Alta Bates campus will remain an acute care facility until the new medical center is built about 2.5 miles away in Emeryville. Once the new medical center opens, Sutter Health will reimagine the campus to feature an ambulatory surgery center, urgent care services and possibly skilled nursing. Convenient, on-site resources—including diagnostic labs, blood draw stations, advanced imaging technologies and treatment areas—will continue to provide care close to home for patients in Berkeley. 

• Responding to community need, Sutter plans to expand behavioral health at the Herrick campus in Berkeley. Patients will access acute, crisis and outpatient care tailored to meet the needs of people with mental health conditions and substance use disorders, while ensuring specialized care for those with the most complex and serious conditions.  

• Renovation of a 10,000 sq. ft. medical office building at 3075 Adeline Street, across from the Ashby BART station, is already underway. This 20-exam-room primary care facility will also offer dedicated OB/GYN services. It will be staffed by 10 providers and is slated to open in the Spring 2025.     

Work is underway or planned in other parts of the East Bay region: 

• In Oakland, the Summit campus of Alta Bates Summit Medical Center already offers advanced centers dedicated to cancer care, heart and vascular care and other specialties. The campus will also be home to the $400 million Stanford Medicine Sutter Health Cancer Center when it opens in November 2026.​ The five story, 167,000 sq. ft. building is currently under construction and will bring advanced cancer care to the East Bay, offering infusion services, outpatient clinics, imaging, radiation oncology and an ambulatory surgery center. 

• Renovations are planned for the emergency departments at Oakland’s Summit campus and Castro Valley’s Sutter Eden Medical Center to accommodate more patients. 

Growing the Healthcare Workforce   

The growing nationwide shortage of physicians, nurses and other healthcare workers complicates access to care. Sutter is committed to supporting the future of healthcare through workforce development. Developing a future pathway for new physicians is a top priority at Sutter Health and it’s why we are expanding our Graduate Medical Education (GME) program, with plans to train 1,000 residents and fellows by 2030.

In 2024, Sutter East Bay Medical Foundation launched its inaugural internal medicine residency program at the Summit campus in Oakland. A Transitional Year program will launch in 2025 and an OB/Gyn residency program will launch in 2026. At full complement, 57 residents will be part of the program, equipping them with the skills, compassion and knowledge needed to deliver exceptional care.

“We recognize the demand for physicians in the East Bay region and we’re working hard to add new physicians, advanced practice clinicians, and employees to support this patient care expansion,” said Ursula Boynton, M.D., chief medical executive, Sutter’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center.  

Dr. Boynton and Dr. Ahsan are excited about the possibilities the expansion plan and the physician growth they envision will bring to the East Bay community. “Over the next three years, we’re poised to add 50 primary care providers in Oakland and Berkeley. By 2028, our goal is to add another 45 primary care physicians across the East Bay for a total of 95 new providers,” said Dr. Ahsan. 

A Bold Vision for the Future  

Sutter Health’s East Bay expansion is a significant step forward in strengthening the integrated care continuum and improving access to high-quality, patient-centered care across the region. By investing in new facilities, expanding specialty services, partnering with our medical group and community physicians, and growing its healthcare workforce, Sutter is committed to ensuring East Bay residents receive seamless access to comprehensive, seamless, and compassionate care for generations to come.  Sutter Health was represented in the transaction by Mike Taquino and Kyle Kovac of CBRE.