Murray City's planning commission has unanimously approved an updated conditional-use permit clearing the way for Intermountain Health to build a nine-floor cancer center tower at Intermountain Medical Center, replacing a surface parking lot northeast of the hospital's main tower. The project also includes a four-level, 665-stall parking structure along State Street, connected to the new tower by a pedestrian bridge.
A Long-Standing Permit Gets an Update
The commission's vote updates a conditional-use permit first approved in 2004, according to Building Salt Lake. Murray City's staff report identifies the Intermountain Medical Center site as 63 acres zoned Commercial (C-D), where medical and other health services require conditional-use approval.
The proposed tower is planned to reach about 149 feet from finished grade to the roof's highest point, according to Murray City's staff report. That is well below the site's theoretical zoning allowance: the report says the C-D zone's height limit can increase by one foot for every four feet between a building and residential zoning when the building is at least 100 feet away. The proposed tower is 1,368 feet from the nearest residential zoning district, allowing a theoretical maximum height of 432 feet. The report says the nine floors would add just over 539,000 square feet.
Parking and a Bridge Built to Connect Them
Once finished, the Intermountain Medical Center complex will have around 4,900 parking stalls, the report notes, with the new structure's 665 stalls supplementing existing capacity on the sprawling campus. The site plan ties the cancer center to that structure directly: a pedestrian bridge will connect the two buildings.
Jeff Pinegar, a principal at VCBO Architecture, told the commission that the parking structure is among the first project elements slated for construction, with that work potentially commencing near the beginning of 2027. Other construction tied to the project could start in spring 2027, the outlet reported.
Trees, a Tower Downtown, and What's Next for Murray
The commission added a condition encouraging preservation of existing trees on the property, and Pinegar said Intermountain Health would support that effort. Katie Rogers, chair of the Murray City Planning Commission, said the panel had granted the conditional-use permit and was excited to see the changes coming to the site.
Intermountain's existing cancer services in Murray already include Intermountain Health's multidisciplinary approach to cancer care, combining advanced technology, clinical trials and supportive services with medical oncology, radiation oncology, surgical oncology, hematology and genetic counseling. The health system is separately slated to carry out a proposed hospital project in downtown Salt Lake City, according to the dossier of facts tied to this story.
Other Cancer and Development Projects
The Murray tower is one part of the region's cancer-care landscape. University of Utah Health says Huntsman Cancer Institute has more than 1 million square feet at its Salt Lake City location, along with three community clinics and seven regional affiliate hospitals. Those figures describe its current footprint; they do not provide cancer-incidence trends or a comparison with national rates. For the area around Murray Central Station, Murray City's small-area plan identifies opportunities for employment, retail, public space and residential uses outside the SSOD. Separately, Salt Lake City Planning Division records describe an Intermountain Health campus proposed at 45 E 800 South, with a 10-story inpatient hospital and a seven-story Medical Office Building. That proposal is seeking conditional-use and design-review approval; it is separate from the Murray cancer-tower permit.
The Murray project arrives as the city weighs broader change nearby. Murray City Council is considering a plan that could enable development around Murray Central Station, an area covering around 245 acres, Building Salt Lake reported — a sign that the cancer tower's arrival may be just one piece of a larger shift reshaping the area around Intermountain's flagship Murray campus.
