Sutter Approves $189M Memorial Expansion
Sutter Health has approved the first phase of a Modesto hospital expansion alongside a new cancer treatment center.
Updated on Nov. 3, 2026 in Cancer
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Sutter Health approved $189 million for the first phase of an expansion at Memorial Medical Center in Modesto, activating the sixth and seventh floors of the North Tower for inpatient care. The expansion is paired with a $380 million, four-story cancer treatment center being built next to the hospital.
Why it matters
Demand for hospital services is rising as the community grows, and the project uses space purposely built into the North Tower for future needs. For Modesto residents, the expansion adds capacity for medical, maternity and neonatal care along with a dedicated cancer treatment facility.
Phase one approval totals $189 million, with the sixth floor adding 56 medical and telemetry beds and the seventh floor adding 20 neonatal intensive care beds and 36 maternity beds. A separate $380 million four-story cancer treatment center is planned next door, and the source does not detail additional phase costs.
The players
Sutter Health
Sutter Health is a nonprofit health system headquartered in Sacramento that operates hospitals and clinics across Northern California.
Memorial Medical Center
Memorial Medical Center is a Sutter Health hospital at Briggsmore Avenue and Coffee Road in Modesto serving the Central Valley region.
The details
Sutter Health is activating the sixth and seventh floors of the North Tower at Memorial Medical Center, two floors that were shelled in when the tower was built in 2008. The expansion sits at Briggsmore Avenue and Coffee Road, and Sutter plans further expansion of patient care areas beyond this phase.
Timeline
2008: North Tower constructed with floors shelled in for future use.
2028: Construction on the expansion is planned to begin.
2029: The cancer treatment center is expected to open.
Big Picture
The project activates floors shelled in during Sutter's 2008 North Tower construction, following through on capacity planned nearly two decades earlier. It mirrors a pattern of hospitals building vertical space in advance to avoid later disruption.
Modesto patients will gain access to 56 additional medical and telemetry beds, plus neonatal and maternity beds, once the floors are activated. A dedicated four-story cancer treatment center is planned next to the hospital, expanding local options for cancer care.
The takeaway
Expanding a hospital in stages, with floors prepared years in advance, lets a health system respond to growing demand without starting from scratch. For Modesto residents, the coming cancer center and added maternity and neonatal beds signal more local care capacity ahead.
What happens next
Construction on the expansion is planned to begin in 2028, and the cancer treatment center is expected to open in 2029.
Further reading
Explore more cancer coverage to see how treatment capacity is expanding in the region.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The Fresno Bee.
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