The building of a 750,000 square-foot hospital and healthcare facility in Flagstaff is expected to begin sometime next February.
This timeline represents a recalibration of the project, which is also thought to be over budget, according to several news sources.
Northern Arizona Healthcare has for years been planning to build what it is calling a Health and Wellness Village near the Fort Tuthill County Park, roughly 6 miles to the southwest of downtown Flagstaff.
As approved by the City of Flagstaff, the project is slated to see the construction of both a multi-story hospital as well as an ambulatory care center. The larger village site, according to plans, will include 315 residential units, restaurants, a hotel, grocery store, and walking trails spread out over some 22 acres.
Originally budgeted at $750 million, with work expected to begin this summer, the project’s price tag has since increased to $800 million. It is now thought that work on the ambulatory care center will be completed in the late summer of 2026, with the hospital finished and ready for business in February of 2028.
Last month members of the Flagstaff City Council unanimously voted to approve the first phase construction of the village project.
Some area residents, however, have expressed opposition to the project, saying that the approval process for it was too quickly executed. A group called Flagstaff Community First has submitted more than 4,800 signatures to the offices of the Flagstaff City Clerk calling for project to be decided by voters in a referendum.
The group charges, among other things, that not enough effort was put into an earlier proposal by Northern Arizona Health to renovate its existing, historic facilities in downtown Flagstaff at 1200 N. Beaver Street.
Hospital officials have said that that facility, last renovated more than 25 years ago, is no longer large enough to handle current patient needs. An earlier announced plan to repurpose that structure has yet to be released.
Founded in 1995, the Flagstaff-based Northern Arizona Health care is the largest healthcare provider in northern Arizona, serving an estimated 700,000 residents.
By Garry Boulard
