McCarthy Breaks Ground on California Tower at UC Davis Health

McCarthy, in collaboration with SmithGroup and UC Davis Health, is proud to announce the groundbreaking of the UC Davis Health California Tower project, a transformative healthcare facility set to redefine patient care and community health in Sacramento. This 910,000 square-foot, $3.7 billion project promises to enhance health outcomes and support the socioeconomic fabric of the region. 

The California Tower will feature a 14-story hospital facility and a 5-story pavilion, adding 334 private patient rooms designed to improve recovery and reduce infection rates. This state-of-the-art facility, connected to the existing Surgery and Emergency Services Pavilion, also includes two helicopter landing decks, advanced imaging and support services, and complex procedure rooms, ensuring comprehensive healthcare delivery for the next 50 years. 

The progressive design-build project has been marked by strategic planning and strong collaboration from the start, allowing the teams to navigate the project’s duration and scope more easily. “We proactively developed a comprehensive staffing rotation strategy from the project’s inception, ensuring team well-being and continual growth,” said Bryan Anderson, Executive Vice President, Operations at McCarthy. “With such a big team working on a large healthcare project, culture is very important. We dedicated time early on focusing on our culture as a team and outlining how we want to behave, operate, communicate, and treat each other.” 

UC Davis Health has a longstanding commitment to providing high-quality care, especially to underserved populations. The California Tower project is an extension of this mission, offering a robust health care safety net and addressing the region’s hospitalization needs. The project will create hundreds of construction jobs, utilize local vendors, and upon completion, provide permanent employment opportunities, thereby contributing to community wealth-building and addressing social determinants of health. 

"The mission of UC Davis Health is to improve the health and well-being of our community, and the California Tower project is a significant step toward achieving that goal. This state-of-the-art facility will increase our bed capacity to provide a flexible facility to handle all levels of specialized care. The most vulnerable populations will have access to high-quality healthcare services," said Jill Tomczyk, Executive Director of Strategic Programs at UC Davis Health. 

Sustainability is also at the heart of the California Tower, with the project on track for LEED Gold certification. The building’s design includes energy-efficient systems, indoor environmental quality enhancements, water use reduction, and rainwater management strategies, all contributing to a greener, more sustainable healthcare environment. 

The California Tower’s architectural design complements the existing UC Davis Medical Center campus while setting a new vision for healthcare facilities. The 230-foot tower will be a prominent feature of the local skyline, with unitized curtain wall panels mixed with metal fins, and structural glass planes enhancing both aesthetic appeal and functional efficiency. This design ensures patient privacy and supports reduced energy consumption, creating a welcoming and sustainable environment. 

"The California Tower synthesizes innovative medical planning, state-of-the-art building technologies and thoughtful patient and staff-centered design to meet the healthcare needs of the future,” said Chee Keong Lin, Vice President and Health Studio Leader at SmithGroup. "This transformative healthcare facility will provide a destination of healing and a vital resource for Sacramento and its surrounding northern California communities.” 

The project is slated for completion in 2030. 

About McCarthy

McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is the oldest privately held national construction company in the country – with 160 years spent collaborating with partners to solve complex building challenges on behalf of its clients. With an unrelenting focus on safety and a comprehensive quality program that spans all phases of every project, McCarthy utilizes industry-leading design phase and construction techniques combined with value-add technology to maximize outcomes. Repeatedly honored as a Best Place to Work and Healthiest Employer, McCarthy is ranked the 17th largest domestic builder (Engineering News-Record, May 2023). With approximately 7,500 salaried employees and craft professionals, the firm has offices in St. Louis; Atlanta; Collinsville, Ill.; Kansas City, Kan.; Omaha, Neb.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Denver; Austin, Channelview, Dallas, and Houston; and San Diego, Newport Beach, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose and Sacramento, Calif. McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned. More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com or by following the company on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.   

About UC Davis Health 

UC Davis Health is a nationally recognized academic health system known for excellence in patient care, groundbreaking research, and interdisciplinary education. Comprising the UC Davis Medical Center, UC Davis School of Medicine, Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, and an extensive network of outpatient services, UC Davis Health is dedicated to improving health and well-being locally, nationally, and globally. 

About SmithGroup (www.smithgroup.com) is one of the world’s preeminent integrated design firms. Working across a network of 20 offices in the U.S. and China, a team of 1,400 experts is committed to excellence in strategy, design, and delivery. The scale of the firm’s thinking and organization produces partnerships with forward-looking clients that maximize opportunities, minimize risk and solve their most complex problems. SmithGroup creates exceptional design solutions for healthcare, science and technology organizations, higher education and cultural institutions, urban environments, diverse workplaces, mixed-use and waterfront developments, and parks and open spaces.