UC Davis Health breaks ground on 14-story expansion of Sacramento medical center
UC Davis Health broke ground on its 14-story California Tower on Monday, beginning construction on a large expansion of the Medical Center’s campus on Stockton Boulevard that is set to be completed in 2030.
The expansion will add the 14-story hospital tower and a five-story pavilion to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, according to a news release from UC Davis Health. The additions will create nearly 1 million square feet of additional space in the form of operating rooms, burn care units, an estimated 334 private rooms and an imaging center.
Currently, the hospital at UC Davis Health Center has 646 inpatient beds, which will increase to between 675 and 700 beds. More than 250 rooms are also being designed to convert to inpatient rooms in case of a surge — a pandemic, wildfire or other large-scale disaster.
“We are building into this new tower some of the lessons we learned from the recent pandemic. As an example, three out of four of the rooms in this new tower can be easily converted to fully functional ICUs if needed, tripling our ICU capacity,” David Lubarsky, CEO of UC Davis Health, said in the release.
The UC Board of Regents approved the California Tower in 2022 as part of UC Davis Health’s 2030 Vision, which includes a new medical center in Folsom, Aggie Square, the Ernest E. Tschannen Eye Institute and parking structures, among other additions. They began demolition at the California Tower site later that year.
2030 Vision ends with the completion of the California Tower.
An estimated $3.74 billion will be spent on the tower, which is going to replace parts of the existing center that can no longer be used due to state seismic regulations. The project is part of earthquake-resistant updates many California hospitals are making, UC Davis Health said.
Local leaders are anticipating thousands of new construction and health care jobs to come from the project.
“The hospital tower we’re breaking ground on today represents another pivotal investment in our city by UC Davis,” Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said in a prepared statement. “Both this tower and the new Aggie Square innovation campus will create thousands of new, high-quality jobs and expand our ability to meet the health care needs of our residents.
Aggie Square, a life sciences campus that will host companies and startups as an “innovation hub,” is also part of Vision 2030. Construction on the innovation and education center began in 2025 and is scheduled to be completed in 2025, according to the plan.
“UC Davis Health is Sacramento County’s second-largest employer, and we’re making sure we are bringing not only health care, but jobs and community wealth-building to our surrounding neighborhoods,” Lubarsky said.
