10 Things to Know About the Kaiser Permanente Railyards Medical Center

Sacramento has nearly one million Kaiser Permanente members in the greater region. In 2029, Kaiser Permanente Railyards Medical Center opens at 365 Railyards Blvd. Here’s what that means for people who live and work in the area.

1. The Railyards District is Getting its First Hospital

Kaiser Permanente has called the Railyards Medical Center its “first hospital in the city center.”

The Railyards location provides a unique opportunity for Kaiser Permanente Railyards Medical Center to be the first hospital close enough to serve residents on both sides of the river.

Every major hospital in Sacramento—Sutter Medical Center in Midtown, UC Davis Medical Center near Oak Park, and Mercy General in East Sacramento—sits at least 3 miles from the urban core.

2. A Targeted Opening Date is Set for 2029

Kaiser Permanente broke ground on March 19, 2025, with a target opening of 2029. That four-year pace is fast for a hospital this size.

California has a seismic safety deadline for hospitals: comply with updated earthquake standards or close by 2030. Kaiser’s Morse Avenue facility in Arden-Arcade, which has served the region for more than 60 years, can’t meet those standards. The Railyards Medical Center is its replacement.

The design firm SmithGroup credits the accelerated pace to Kaiser’s standardized room templates and a construction team with prior Kaiser project experience, which significantly reduced planning time.

3.I t’s a Full Medical Campus, Not a Single Building

The Railyards medical campus covers 18 acres and three connected structures:

• An 8-story, 662,050-square-foot hospital
• A 5-story, 173,000-square-foot medical office building with 174 provider offices and 66 exam rooms
• A 7-story parking garage with 1,500 spaces

The hospital and medical office building are attached. You can see your doctor, get imaging done, fill a prescription, and, if needed, be admitted, all in the same place.

4. Expectant Parents Welcome

There are 310 licensed beds in private rooms planned for the Kaiser Permanente Railyards Medical Center, and expectant parents should take note. The planned bed count includes:

• 216 medical/surgical beds
• 48 adult intensive care beds
• 14 labor and delivery beds
• 24 postpartum beds
• 8 neonatal intensive care beds

Kaiser moved labor and delivery services off the Morse Avenue campus years ago, sending birthing patients from Sacramento to Roseville and South Sacramento. The Railyards facility brings a 38-bed birthing center back to the city, which can impact birthing families in Midtown, Downtown, the River District, and Natomas.

5. The Largest ER in the Sacramento Region

The emergency department has 70 planned private treatment bays, which will make it one of the largest ERs in the Sacramento region. It will also be the only emergency department in the city center.

6. The Future of Morse Avenue is Unknown

For many longtime Kaiser members in north Sacramento and Arden Arcade, the Morse Avenue campus is the hospital they know. It closes by 2030 to meet the seismic compliance deadline, and the Railyards facility is the replacement.

What comes next for the Morse campus is “still being determined,” according to Kaiser Permanente.

7. A Dedicated Neuroscience Center is Coming to Sacramento

The Railyards medical campus will include Kaiser Permanente’s Advanced Neuroscience Center, focused on stroke, spinal conditions, and complex neurological care. It will have interventional radiology and surgical neuroscience capabilities built into the design.

Kaiser’s existing Sacramento Medical Center on Morse Avenue earned a Comprehensive Stroke Center designation from The Joint Commission in 2017, the highest stroke certification a hospital can hold. The Advanced Neuroscience Center at the Railyards is the next chapter for that program in a purpose-built facility.

For Sacramento-area patients who currently travel to UC Davis for complex neurological care, the Railyards facility will be a closer option within the Kaiser system.

8. Kaiser Permanente is Opening an All-Electric Hospital in The Railyards

The Railyards Medical Center is designed to join a very short list of all-electric hospitals in the United States.

The facility is planned to run entirely on electricity, with solar panels, EV charging stations, drought-tolerant landscaping, and low-emitting construction materials throughout. It’s pursuing LEED Platinum certification.

Kaiser Permanente’s San Jose Medical Center is building to the same all-electric standard for its own 2029 opening.

The two new all-electric hospitals in Northern California are expected to reduce air pollution by about 8 million pounds a year, says Kaiser Permanente. They will be the second and third all-electric hospitals in California (the first is in UC Irvine).

9. The Medical Campus is the Largest Employment Driver in the Railyards

According to an economic impact analysis, the Kaiser Permanente Railyards Medical Campus will directly employ 3,100 people on site. That’s more direct employment than every other project in development in the district, including the soccer stadium, the Central Shops, and the office buildings.

The ripple effect extends further. The analysis projects a total employment impact of 5,961 jobs throughout Sacramento County, accounting for the indirect economic activity the hospital generates: supply chain spending, employee household spending, and downstream demand that a major employer of this size creates across the region.

The campus is projected to generate $668.4 million in wages and $1.39 billion in annual economic output.

Put plainly, the Kaiser Permanente Medical Campus will drive jobs and economic impact in the district.

10. The Medical Center Anchors an Up-and-Coming Neighborhood

The Railyards Medical Center sits within a 244-acre development with several projects underway. The Railyards is taking shape, with various projects across multiple phases of development.

The Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye Sacramento County Courthouse is already open, and The AJ residential community has residents moving in to The Railyards.

An affordable senior housing development for seniors opened its doors in 2024.

A Sac Republic soccer stadium and a music venue are also underway.

While the Kaiser Medical Center in the Railyards includes a 7-story parking structure, you won’t necessarily need to drive to access medical services. The Sacramento Valley Station, within walking distance of the campus, connects to Amtrak, Capitol Corridor, and the SacRT bus network. A new light rail station at 7th Avenue and Railyards Blvd. is under construction and is expected to be operational before the hospital opens in 2029.

For more information, Kaiser Permanente has a virtual tour and full facility details at virtualconnect.kaiserpermanente.org/railyards-medical-center.