Northern Arizona Healthcare is committed to providing health care services, including a Level I Trauma Center, to the vast region of northern Arizona, spreading from north of Phoenix to Utah and from the state borders with California and New Mexico.
An important element of being a nonprofit health care organization is reinvesting in the services we provide to the region. We are planning to build a new hospital in the Flagstaff area to serve the region for the next 50 years, knowing that our current Flagstaff Medical Center is at capacity every day for adult inpatients. This causes delays in the Emergency Department and reduces access to care for our entire region.
As the region grows and health care delivery models change, we know we will continue to experience an increase in demand for our services, just as we have seen the past five years.
New hospital site search
As NAH CEO Dave Cheney told the community in October 2025, NAH is investigating five potential sites for a new hospital to serve the region: three sites that NAH does not own and therefore cannot disclose at this time; re-evaluating the opportunities and limitations of the FMC property to ensure we’ve explored all options that can meet the needs of the communities we serve; continuing to consider the land NAH owns adjacent to Ft. Tuthill County Park.
NAH executive leadership will bring considerations for all five sites mentioned above to the NAH Board of Directors in early 2026 and request a decision about future operating plans. Another option available to the Board is not to advance development plans at this time. We are committed to sharing the outcome with the community once a decision is made. (Earlier we shared that we would have this meeting and anticipated a decision in December 2025, but have had to postpone due to issues convening the entirety of the Board during the month of December for this critical decision.)
The site search includes the following considerations: sufficient buildable acreage for a larger hospital and associated services, including parking; enables enough square footage to build a modern hospital to serve each patient adequately with all the necessary support services; easily accessible for emergency vehicles.
If a new site is selected, it will be for a hospital only, and will not include the health and wellness village concept in the original relocation plans. During the 2023 Flagstaff referendum on rezoning the NAH-owned land near Ft. Tuthill for a hospital, NAH leadership heard opposition to the health village concept associated with a new hospital. Therefore, as we research possible locations for a new hospital, we are no longer pursuing additional development near the hospital, but rather seeking only to construct a modern hospital specifically. (See Outpatient services section below for more information.)
FMC reuse options
During the 2023 Flagstaff referendum on rezoning the NAH-owned land near Ft. Tuthill for a hospital, NAH leadership also heard that one of the reasons some people objected to moving the hospital was that there wasn’t a plan for reusing the current FMC land after the hospital moved.
As a response to that feedback, NAH met with colleagues and the community in several meetings throughout October 2025 to gather input on what individuals would like to see at the FMC property if NAH moves to another hospital site in the future.
Here is a summary of what attendees shared with us in a total of six meetings (two meetings for NAH colleagues, two meetings for public, one meeting each for NAH Patient and Family Advisory Council and NAH Flagstaff Community Advisory Council).
Proposed/suggested uses for FMC space if NAH moves the hospital:*
| General ideas | Medical/clinical ideas | Education ideas |
| Open space/public park, tie-in with Buffalo Park | Centralize other NAH clinical services | Teaching/medical training (partner with CCC, NAU, ASU) |
| Expand roads for east-west and downtown traffic support | Rent space to other medical providers | Partner with NAU for various education facilities |
| Housing – general | Alcohol/drug rehabilitation clinic or associated services | Research facility (possibly in conjunction with NAU and/or ASU) |
| Housing – for hospital staff and patient support, expand Taylor House | Skilled nursing facility | Research & industrial park |
| Housing – senior & transitional | Multi-level senior care combined with senior housing | Technical job training |
| Housing – affordable, senior focused | Urgent Care | |
| Housing – medium density | Overflow space for acute emergency care needs in future pandemic or other medical surge situation | |
| Housing – affordable | Outpatient surgery to support hospital capacity needs | |
| Community use: meeting space or community kitchen rental | Mental health services | |
| Food service option | Prioritize health care services | |
| Park-and-ride (keep parking garage); parking covered with solar panels | Cancer center | |
| Child care | Tunnel under Beaver Street for traffic to connect East and West FMC for health care use | |
| Gym/pool facilities for public use | Veterans care facility | |
| Mixed use or split property into public park and commercial development | Ancillary medical services to support post-hospital recovery and transitional care | |
| Sell to reinvest in new hospital | Preventive services | |
| No plan now – determine based on community needs in 10 years | Federal Indian Health Center | |
| Purchase NorthStar and Basha’s and expand | Expand EntireCare physical therapy offerings | |
| Performing arts space | Care coordination services | |
| Wildlife crossing/movement support | ||
| Donate land to Navajo or Hopi tribal use | ||
| High-altitude sports training facilities | ||
| Youth community center |
* Most education ideas, health care ideas, and housing ideas were mentioned by multiple people in each of our six meetings
Input on what NOT to do with FMC space if NAH moves the hospital – do not build: housing, bars, hotel, another hospital.
During the conversations, we also heard several ideas for the area commonly called Soggy Bottom, south of Forest between San Francisco and Turquoise. This area is a federally-designated flood plain, much of which is not feasible for construction based on federal requirements for building in a designated flood plain: snow play area, solar and wind power, keep as open space.
We also heard the following suggestions no matter what any future uses would be: prioritize green energy in construction, prioritize native vegetation.
Outpatient services expanding
As noted above, during the 2023 Flagstaff referendum on rezoning the NAH-owned land near Ft. Tuthill for a hospital, NAH leadership heard from residents that they did not want to see the health village concept associated with a new hospital. As a direct result of that feedback, we have begun to locate some services at our Central Flagstaff health clinic, at 1895 N. Jasper Dr. This includes our vascular and cardiothoracic surgery clinic, Primary Care, Urgent Care, Sleep Clinic.
Additionally, in 2024 we began remodeling and expanding an outpatient surgery center at 1485 N. Turquoise Drive. Orthopedic surgeries are still scheduled at the Summit Center during construction. When the Summit Center fully reopens in mid-2026, it will house an array of services:
- This will be the new home for NAH’s 27,000 square-foot outpatient surgery center with six operating rooms, post-operative recovery space and two pain procedure rooms.
- The remodeled and expanded surgery center will also include a 4,700 square-foot hyperbaric wound clinic to house two hyperbaric wound chambers, six exam rooms and will include room to expand for future needs.
- A 14,800 square-foot orthopedic and neurosurgery clinic will also be in this location, including x-ray facilities, exam rooms and procedure rooms.
- A 5,200 square-foot outpatient EntireCare Sports & Rehab Medicine physical therapy clinic.