Intermountain Health to relocate LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City

SALT LAKE CITY — LDS Hospital will be relocated to downtown Salt Lake City after over a century in the city's Avenues, but it's unclear what's next for the old hospital site.

Intermountain Health's board officially approved the new hospital last week, which will be located on land it purchased near 754 S. State almost five years ago. The project still has some remaining planning approvals, but the healthcare provider hopes to break ground before the end of this year.

Once underway, it is estimated construction will take three to five years to complete, officials said on Wednesday.

LDS Hospital first opened in 1905, but has faced concerns with its aging buildings and location.

Intermountain Health acquired the approximately 8-acre former Sears block property in 2021, three years after the department store closed. It received rezoning approval in 2024 and reached a development agreement with Salt Lake City to outline certain conditions for the project.

Wednesday's briefing will be the first time the company has spoken publicly about the project since submitting several new renderings and other details in documents filed with Salt Lake City last month. Those outlined a multibuilding facility with the tallest building topping out at a little over 200 feet.

It also referred to the space as the LDS Hospital "replacement site," spurring speculation that Intermountain might relocate services from the long-standing facility in the city's Avenues neighborhood.

Intermountain Health has yet to determine what it will do with its outgoing hospital. Officials said Wednesday that they may maintain some services.

Meanwhile, questions remain about the services the facility will provide. Salt Lake County leaders sent the Salt Lake City Council a letter last week, asking it to include more behavioral health resources than LDS Hospital currently provides.

"(T)he new hospital's planning should reflect — and where possible advance — the expanded inpatient behavioral health capacity that our community desperately needs," wrote Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson and seven of the County Council members.

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