Soil remediation is underway on the former Sears block in downtown Salt Lake City, where Intermountain Health plans a high-rise hospital. Crews are removing petroleum impacted material tied to a former auto shop, and detailed designs are expected to reach the planning commission later this year.
Environmental cleanup crews are active on a downtown Salt Lake City block where Intermountain Health intends to build a high-rise hospital, an early indication that pre-construction work has begun.
Work centers on a full block near downtown where a Sears department store operated until 2018. Intermountain Health acquired the property in late 2021, and the Salt Lake City Council approved a rezoning in 2024 that permitted hospital use.
Current activity involves soil remediation on the footprint of the store’s former automotive service building. Three underground motor oil tanks were removed from that area in 2022, and testing identified petroleum concentrations above state thresholds. Under a plan filed with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, contaminated material is being excavated and hauled to a recycling facility on the city’s west side.
Petroleum impacted soil is a common condition on urban infill sites that once held auto service or fueling uses, and remediation generally must be documented and closed out with state regulators before vertical construction advances. A separate parcel on the block, the former Deseret Mortuary property along 700 South, was recorded with elevated chromium levels in 2018. State files do not reflect completed cleanup at that location, which Intermountain Health also controls.
Design work has proceeded with an architect since the rezoning, and the health system expects to publish detailed drawings later this year. Those plans would then go before the Salt Lake City planning commission. Recent site activity was reported by The Salt Lake Tribune.
Entitlement terms require a minimum of one acre of green space and ground floor space fronting surrounding streets for public facing uses, including a pharmacy. Intermountain Health owns the entire block, which sits between State and Main near 800 South in downtown Salt Lake City.