July 27, 2010–Officials from University of Utah Health Care and Rio Tinto’s Kennecott Land broke ground today on a 208,000 square foot facility that will provide residents of southern Salt Lake County with convenient access to the University’s primary, specialty and emergency health care services. The new building will include outpatient exam rooms, an outpatient surgery center, medical imaging services, a pharmacy, space for community education, a restaurant, and a fully-staffed 24-hour-a-day emergency room. The center will also feature specialty services provided by the University’s Huntsman Cancer Hospital, Moran Eye Center, Orthopaedic Center, and Neuropsychiatric Institute.
“South Jordan and the surrounding communities have seen tremendous growth over the past few years and the need for high quality health care grows with every new home that is built,” said Lorris Betz, M.D., Ph.D., senior vice president for health sciences at the University and CEO of University of Utah Health Care. “This new Center will be the University’s largest off-campus facility and the first phase of a larger University medical campus in South Jordan. The 300 physicians and staff who will work at this center will serve as a direct link for patients to the University’s 1,000 physicians and hundreds of specially trained health care providers representing every field and medical specialty.”
The Center, which will be located at 5200 West Daybreak Parkway (11400 South), will be the first major commercial project in Daybreak’s South Station Village and will be located adjacent to the South TRAX Station, the first of three planned TRAX Stations in Daybreak. Center staff and patients will have convenient access to the facility and can ride TRAX from Daybreak to the University’s main campus. The future Mountain View Corridor freeway is also located adjacent to the building site.
“The addition of a state-of-the-art medical facility to the Daybreak community is an important milestone,” said Scott Kaufmann, vice president, commercial development, Kennecott Land. “Access to excellent health care is a key part of building a sustainable and healthy community. Rio Tinto and Kennecott Land have a long and storied partnership with the University of Utah and we’re thrilled to be bringing their health care services to this part of the community.”
The new facility, designed by Dixon and Associates and being built by Layton Construction, is the seventh building in the Daybreak community that will be built to meet LEED specifications. The Center is scheduled to open in late fall of 2011.
Opening this August, a temporary University of Utah Health Care facility located adjacent to the SoDa Row Village Center in Daybreak will offer primary and some specialty care. The physicians, providers, and staff from the temporary clinic will move to the new South Jordan Health Center when complete.
About University of Utah Health Care
University of Utah Health Care is the only academic health care system in the Intermountain West. As part of that system, University Hospitals and Clinics offer services in more than 120 specialties and is consistently ranked as one of the country’s best hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. The system provides care for Utahns and residents of five surrounding states in a referral area encompassing more than 10 percent of the continental United States. The hospitals and clinics see more than 900,000 outpatient visits and over 23,000 inpatient admissions each year. Its academic partners at the University of Utah School of Medicine and Colleges of Nursing, Pharmacy, and Health are internationally regarded research and teaching institutions. More information can be found at www.healthcare.utah.edu .
About Kennecott Land
Kennecott Land was established by parent company Rio Tinto in April 2001 to develop surplus mining land on Salt Lake Valley’s West Bench. Daybreak is the first testament to a vision for sustainable communities. Daybreak is situated on 4,126 acres in South Jordan City where 20,000 homes are planned. At Kennecott Land, sustainable development is at the heart of every business decision by balancing the complex interaction of environmental, economic and social factors. Kennecott Land does this in a way that protects and strengthens what matters most to our community: strong and safe neighborhoods, quality education, a healthy and renewable environment, and a vibrant local economy. To learn more visit our websites and read the 2009 Sustainability Report. www.kennecottland.com and www.daybreakutah.com
About Rio Tinto
Rio Tinto, the parent company to Kennecott companies, is a world leader in discovering, mining and processing the earth’s mining resources in an economically, socially and environmentally responsible way. Where Rio Tinto operates, health and safety is the first priority. Group businesses also put sustainable development at the heart of their operations. They work as closely as possible with host countries and communities, respecting their laws and customs. For Rio Tinto, it is important that the environmental effects of its activities are kept to a minimum and that local communities benefit as much as possible from operations. The businesses produce borates, coal, copper, aluminum, gold, gypsum, lead, molybdenum, silver, talc and zinc. The company employs more than 65,000 people worldwide and 2,400 people in Utah.