Having failed to win voter approval for an expansive Health and Wellness Village at Fort Tuthill last November, Northern Arizona Healthcare has been working to update plans for an ambulatory care center and to find a new location for the Flagstaff Medical Center.
NAH officials say those plans will no longer include an overall health village, although supporting options remain under consideration.
An opposition group secured enough petition signatures to put the original master plan on a referendum ballot after the first phase of zoning was approved in June. Flagstaff Community First lobbied extensively against the new campus master plan, and more than 70% of Flagstaff voters ended up voting in opposition.
NAH’s current plan is to extensively remodel the Summit Center at Turquoise Drive and Forest Avenue into an ambulatory services hub and to add a 6KSF expansion. Offerings at the hub will include ambulatory surgery, a wound and hyperbaric clinic, a neurosurgery clinic, and 5.2KSF for physical therapy programs.
Space at the ambulatory surgery center will be roughly 27.6KSF and include six operating rooms and 32 pre-operative and post-anesthesia care unit bays. The orthopedic and neurosurgery clinic will be 14.8KSF.
NAH officials hope to have the design and permits in place by October and to complete construction by January 2026.
NAH is also trying to increase efficiency at the current hospital while it looks for a new Flagstaff Medical Center location. While plans for a commercial and retail section have been dropped, the organization is still examining ways to potentially include a housing option in the new campus development for both hospital staff and the general community.
NAH still owns the 172 acres near Fort Tuthill County Park where the original campus was planned. Officials have not yet decided what to do with that property.
While no timeline has been established for finding a new hospital campus location, NAH has pledged that whatever decisions are considered will involve extensive community engagement. (Source)
