Sutter Health has broken ground on a four-story Advanced Cancer Center and Care Complex at the Memorial Medical Center campus in Modesto, kicking off one of the city’s biggest health care projects in years. The complex is designed to pull cancer treatment, outpatient clinics and surgical services under one roof, a move Sutter is pitching as a long-term investment in specialty care for the Central Valley.
Project in numbers
As reported by The Business Journals, the Advanced Cancer Center and Care Complex is expected to total about 165,000 square feet and carry a roughly $380 million price tag. The development will rise at 1800 Coffee Road on Sutter’s Memorial Medical Center campus. According to Sutter Health’s press release via GlobeNewswire, the building is scheduled to open in 2029 and is planned to support an estimated 120 physicians and 400 staff members once fully up and running.
What the center will include
In a press release on Vitals by Sutter Health, the system lays out a stacked design meant to keep most cancer care on a single campus. The first and second floors are slated for cancer services such as infusion and radiation therapy, along with imaging, lab and pharmacy. The third floor is planned as an ambulatory surgery center with four operating rooms and four procedure rooms, while the fourth floor will house more than 50 exam rooms for outpatient clinics.
Warner Thomas, Sutter’s CEO, called the project “a destination for care in the Central Valley,” saying the point is to bring complex services closer to home rather than sending patients up and down the state.
Why Modesto needs it
Local health data suggest the timing is not exactly arbitrary. Stanislaus County’s 2025 Community Health Assessment records a cancer death rate of about 157 deaths per 100,000, which is higher than the state and national averages and highlights gaps in early detection and specialty treatment. The Stanislaus County Health Services Agency 2025 Community Health Assessment details the disparities the new center is intended to help address.
Design and contractors
Project listings identify HGA as the architect and DPR Construction as the general contractor, with a layout that centralizes outpatient, surgical and diagnostic services in one building on the campus. Tradeline notes that the facility is expected to incorporate modern imaging and lab capabilities to support targeted therapies and clinical trials, a key draw for patients who currently travel out of the area for advanced options.
Jobs, timeline and local impact
Sutter’s planning materials indicate the center will recruit dozens of clinicians, including plans to add roughly 44 physicians for the cancer center and ambulatory surgery center, along with additional outpatient clinicians. Philanthropy is expected to help fund portions of the project, according to Sutter Health’s press release via GlobeNewswire, which also notes the new build will replace an existing structure at 1800 Coffee Road and is expected to be occupied in 2029…