Kaiser Permanente held a ceremonial groundbreaking Tuesday for a new comprehensive care center under construction on Iron Point Road in Folsom, marking the latest move in a healthcare building spree reshaping the fast-growing city south of Highway 50. The 187,000-square-foot outpatient facility will house 60 clinical offices and offer primary and specialty care, imaging, lab and pharmacy services once it opens.
According to KCRA, the new center is expected to open in May 2030, while a separate 27,000-square-foot expansion of Kaiser's existing surgery facility on the same campus is expected to be completed by March 2028. Dr. Rich Florio, a Kaiser Permanente vascular surgeon, said the health system is bringing services to meet Folsom's needs as the city grows. He also said the surgery expansion will allow more people to have operations performed without extended hospital stays, letting them recover closer to home.
Plans for the Site Take Shape
The scale of the project reflects years of planning and revision. The project's environmental review is an addendum to the Broadstone II Master Plan Environmental Impact Report, originally certified in 1992, according to filings reviewed through CEQAnet.
Kaiser's plans for the site include a 183,000-square-foot medical office building and a separate 27,000-square-foot expansion of the adjacent ambulatory surgery center, per the Sacramento Business Journal's reporting. An earlier master plan envisioned a roughly 1.3-million-square-foot medical complex and a 430-bed hospital, the outlet's historical reporting notes.
Folsom's Growing Role as a Regional Medical Hub
Kaiser is far from alone in betting big on Folsom. Sutter Health was in permitting for its own 106,000-square-foot ambulatory care complex near East Bidwell Street and Iron Point Road, with construction slated to begin before the end of 2024. The complex will include an outpatient cancer center, surgical center and urgent care, according to ABC10. UC Davis Health and Dignity Health are also developing multi-acre medical campuses south of Highway 50, with Dignity Health's plans including a 300-bed acute care hospital on a 27-acre site.
The building boom tracks closely with residential growth in the area. The master-planned Folsom Ranch development south of Highway 50 is projected to add roughly 11,000 homes over three decades, a surge that is pushing health systems to rapidly establish outpatient and surgical infrastructure to keep pace, per the same Business Journal reporting.
Traffic Fees Aim to Ease a Clogged Corridor
That growth has come with real strain on local roads. Traffic along the East Bidwell Street corridor near Iron Point Road climbed nearly 78 percent, from 37,000 vehicles per day in 2019 to more than 66,000 vehicles per day in 2026, Hoodline reported in July in its coverage of the East Bidwell traffic crunch. As part of its project approval, Kaiser could bring in approximately $5.5 million in transportation impact fees, which could support eligible East Bidwell improvements.
Beyond traffic mitigation, the project is expected to deliver a local jobs boost. An earlier proposal for the campus was estimated to create 400 permanent jobs. Kaiser's Folsom Medical Offices offer urgent care, pharmacy and laboratory services.
The new facility will also add more than 1,100 parking spaces once complete, per KCRA. Kaiser's groundbreaking comes as Sutter, UC Davis Health and Dignity Health pursue projects in Folsom, adding to the city's medical development.
