North Memorial's site plan includes a future hospital as a part of its 30-acre campus. Together, the outpatient clinic and hospital would be a $117-million project. The campus will feature a park-like setting, walking paths, ample parking and a glass and stone exterior that will provide natural lighting to the interior spaces.

The first phase of the North Memorial plan will be an outpatient health care campus, including a medical office building, an outpatient surgery center and emergency and urgent care services. Construction on the first phase will begin next year with an anticipated opening date in early 2006. The second phase of the plan includes a community hospital, which must receive approval from the Minnesota state legislature. North Memorial has already submitted a request to build a hospital to the Minnesota Department of Health, which is the first step in receiving state approval for a future hospital. "We believe the Maple Grove area needs a hospital, and the time to begin planning that hospital is now," says Dave Cress, the chief operating officer of North Memorial Health Care.

North Memorial hired a research firm to survey local residents about health care services in the Maple Grove area, and found residents preferred North Memorial to others for who should build a hospital in Maple Grove. Consumers rank emergency care and urgent care services as the top priority for health care services in Maple Grove. The other top three priorities named were surgery services, cardiology or heart care, and an ambulance station.