Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose is charging ahead with a $1.3 billion, multi-phase expansion that hospital and city leaders say will reshape the campus for decades to come. The overhaul centers on a new patient tower, more private rooms, expanded surgical and cardiac care, and a structured parking facility. Construction began late last year, and hospital officials expect the work to support more than 1,500 construction jobs while bringing the campus into compliance with California’s 2030 seismic safety rules. Neighbors are being warned to buckle up for years of phased construction activity.
According to Good Samaritan Hospital, the full buildout will add roughly 715,144 square feet of new construction, 234 inpatient rooms and 339 total operating beds, along with 658 new parking spaces that are designed to be scalable for electric vehicles. The anticipated completion date is 2032. Local coverage has followed the project’s ceremonial kickoff and a long planning process. The hospital’s project page explains that work will unfold in stages, starting with the parking structure, then a central utility plant, and finally the new patient tower.
What the new tower will contain
The new patient tower is described in local reporting as a roughly 469,920-square-foot building that will house 234 new private suites, ICU beds, expanded surgical suites, cardiac labs and additional diagnostic areas. KTVU and industry coverage note that the tower will physically connect to the hospital’s newer women’s facility and will include shell space set aside for future emergency department and imaging expansions. Hospital leaders say the upgraded infrastructure and new central utility plant are being designed to support extended emergency operations and modern clinical workflows.
Why San Jose needs it
Officials and industry observers point to a long-running shortage of inpatient capacity in Santa Clara County. One industry report cited about 2.01 beds per 1,000 residents as a baseline the project aims to help address. Becker’s Hospital Review highlighted that shortfall while covering the expansion. The hospital also stresses that the build will bring the campus into compliance with California’s 2030 seismic safety standards, and state environmental filings for the rezoning outline infrastructure upgrades, including holding tanks, intended to keep critical systems running during emergencies. The state CEQA documentation includes the project’s environmental review and Notice of Determination.
History and community ties
Good Samaritan sits on land the Cilker family helped set aside and plan as a medical campus in the 1960s. The family’s role in creating Samaritan Drive and shaping the medical site is a core part of the hospital’s local backstory. Cilker Henderson documents the family’s donations and early planning work for the campus. In a recent interview, hospital leaders leaned on that history while emphasizing current community investment, pointing to a $3 million donation to shelter and affordable housing efforts and quoting HCA’s founder, who said that “bricks and mortar do not make a hospital; people do.” ABC7 covered that interview and the donation.
What neighbors can expect
City planning documents make it clear that this is a multi-year, phased construction program that requires a planned-development rezoning and a full Environmental Impact Report. Those records call for demolition of an older bed tower and staged construction of new hospital wings, parking garages and a central utility plant. The City of San Jose planning pages list the project files and summarize anticipated impacts, including traffic, noise and temporary parking changes. The city and hospital say they will use staging and community outreach to limit disruptions, but residents should still expect intermittent detours and construction activity over the life of the project…