$52M Hospital Project in Green Valley Meets Community Opposition

By Camelia Bulea, Associate Editor

Green Valley’s first emergency room hospital, about 25 miles south of Tucson, could be blocked due to objections from a homeowners association.

In October 2012 news broke that Tucson Medical Center would develop and operate the $52 million hospital and emergency room project with Scottsdale-based McDowell Enterprises. Two months later the project ran into a snag when nearby residents opposed the height and size of the project and feared that the two-story hospital could damage their property values, according to the Arizona Daily Star. A letter from the homeowners association, which represents over 440 homes, said that residents are also worried about round-the-clock traffic and light pollution.

The Green Valley News and Sun nevertheless reports the sale of the 22-acre site closed on Nov. 30 between landowner Fairfield Homes and developer McDowell Enterprises.

The new hospital would serve about 50,000 people who live in Green Valley. These people now have to travel about 30 minutes to an emergency room, noted the Daily Star publication. According to initial plans, the hospital could open in 2014.

Initial plans called for a 100,000 square-foot hospital, but McDowell Enterprises has recently asked the county for a few modifications, including expanding the hospital’s surface to 138,533 square feet and for the potential to expand from 32 beds to 50 beds. Other construction plans include: a rehabilitation center, medical offices, cardiac catheterization lab, four operating rooms, on-site radiological imaging labs, 26 inpatient private rooms, a six-bed intensive-care unit and a helipad.

Photo rendering of the proposed Green Valley Medical Center, courtesy of Swaim Associates LTD

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