AdventHealth Opens 88,000-Square-Foot Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado

AURORA, Colo. — AdventHealth has opened the first phase of an 88,000-square-foot medical campus in The Aurora Highlands, one of the Denver metro area's fastest-growing master-planned communities, with the facility scheduled to begin treating patients Sept. 29, 2026.

The three-story building at 3405 N. Main St. represents an approximately $81 million investment — roughly $917 per square foot — and marks the first healthcare provider presence in The Aurora Highlands, a 4,000-acre master-planned community located south of Denver International Airport near E-470.

Facility Features and Services

AdventHealth Aurora Highlands includes a 24-hour freestanding emergency department with eight exam rooms, two trauma exam rooms, and a helipad. The facility also offers outpatient imaging services — CT, ultrasound, and X-ray — with plans to add MRI capability in the future. Clinical services at opening include primary care, orthopedics, cardiology, and OB/GYN, along with additional shelled clinic space to accommodate future growth.

The emergency department will operate as a department of AdventHealth Parker rather than as a separately licensed full-service hospital at opening. The building contains 27 clinic exam rooms in addition to the emergency department.

"We are incredibly excited to open the doors of AdventHealth Aurora Highlands and bring convenient, whole-person care closer to the people who call this community home," said Erin Ward, chief operating officer of AdventHealth Parker and AdventHealth Aurora Highlands ER. "This new facility represents an important investment in the future of Aurora Highlands and the surrounding communities, and we are grateful to the many partners who helped make this vision a reality."

Sustainability and Design

The campus incorporates a geothermal energy system consisting of 96 wells, each extending approximately 500 feet underground. Together, the wells provide up to 240 tons of heating and cooling capacity, reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions for the facility.

The project team included HKS as architect of record, SmithGroup as construction-administration architect, and Mortenson as general contractor. Additional project participants were Encore Electric as electrical contractor, Murphy Mechanical as mechanical contractor, Kimley-Horn as civil engineer, WSP as MEP engineer, and ADAMS as owner's representative and program manager. AdventHealth broke ground on the campus in January 2025.

Phased Campus Expansion Planned

The current building sits within a planned 40-acre medical campus. AdventHealth's long-term development plans call for a 50- to 75-bed acute-care hospital with an anticipated Level III trauma-center designation, which would expand the campus from an outpatient and emergency-care facility into a broader inpatient healthcare destination.

The phased approach allows AdventHealth to serve immediate community demand through emergency care, imaging, and physician clinics while preserving capacity for expansion as The Aurora Highlands' residential and commercial development matures.

"The grand opening of AdventHealth's new facility marks an exciting milestone for The Aurora Highlands and the Aurora community," said Carla Ferreira, CEO of The Aurora Highlands. "We are proud to welcome AdventHealth's physicians, caregivers and staff to The Aurora Highlands and look forward to the positive impact this facility will have on the people who live and work here."

Healthcare Real Estate Context

The project reflects a broader trend in healthcare real estate in which health systems are placing emergency and outpatient capacity inside large master-planned communities rather than waiting for established hospital districts to form. Freestanding emergency departments have emerged as a growth format that allows systems to extend their geographic reach while deferring the capital requirements and operational complexity of a full inpatient hospital.

The Aurora Highlands campus also illustrates how healthcare facilities can serve as anchors within mixed-use development, providing services to residents, workers, and travelers in the eastern Aurora corridor near Denver International Airport. The shelled clinic space built into the initial phase gives AdventHealth the flexibility to add services as population growth and utilization data support further investment.

Sources

AdventHealth — AdventHealth expands emergency, outpatient care to The Aurora Highlands