UC Davis Health just hit a big behind-the-scenes milestone in Sacramento, with crews topping out the new annex at its Central Utility Plant, the core of a $406 million campus infrastructure overhaul. The expansion is set to bring in emergency backup systems, upgraded electrical switchgear and nearly a mile of underground utility piping, all aimed at boosting capacity and reliability as the medical campus grows. University leaders say the work is the backbone for the California Tower and other major projects rising across the medical center.
Topping Out Marks Structural Completion
The health system held a topping-out ceremony as crews hoisted the final steel beam into place and workers signed it, marking structural completion of the CUP Annex, according to UC Davis Health. “While this building may not be where patients receive care directly, it is essential to everything we do,” Interim CEO Mike Condrin told attendees.
What The Expansion Will Add
Environmental review documents for the project detail three-megawatt emergency generators, new transformers and switchgear, and about one mile of new underground electrical and hydronic piping that will tie the CUP Annex into campus utilities and SMUD’s network, as described in the project’s Final EIR. The University of California’s consolidated capital report assigns a $406 million budget to central utility plant modernization and expansion, placing the CUPx project among the system’s largest near-term infrastructure investments.
Electrification, Resilience And Emissions
UC Davis reports that the upgraded electrical backbone will set the medical center up to move away from onsite combustion systems and prepare the campus for electric chillers and heat-recovery technology, which is expected to trim campus emissions as the plant is modernized, per UC Davis Health. Project leaders say the added redundancy and the new electrical yard will be crucial for round-the-clock clinical operations, helping keep operating rooms and inpatient units online during maintenance or power interruptions.
Timeline And Who’s Building It
The CUPx officially broke ground in October 2025 and is being delivered in phases so it lines up with the wider campus buildout, according to Sacramento Business Journal. Tutor Perini’s Rudolph and Sletten unit is listed as the general contractor, and trade coverage notes that the work includes a two-story CUP Annex along with renovations to the existing plant. SMUD has advised that potholing, localized lane closures and staged trenching will be needed while crews install the underground feeder from the East City Substation, with some trenching and restoration expected to continue into the late 2020s.
What To Watch Next
Regulatory filings indicate the CUPx was planned to handle projected campus growth through 2040 under the UC Davis long-range development plan, and the Final EIR spells out the mitigation measures and traffic controls the university is expected to follow. Neighbors and local planners will be keeping an eye on public notices and traffic-management plans as the work shifts from structural completion to equipment installation and the more disruptive buried utility construction.
