Stanford lays out plans for its largest medical facility, a Redwood City cancer center

Stanford Medicine has unveiled plans for a major new cancer campus in Redwood City that officials say would be the largest medical facility in the university's history and the largest in the city.

The proposal would replace an earlier campus concept approved in 2013 and expand Stanford's cancer-care footprint with a hospital, an outpatient clinic and a research building. Stanford said the updated plan would add 1.17 million square feet compared with the earlier proposal.

Dr. Steven Artandi, director of the Stanford Cancer Institute, said the project reflects rising demand and the growing complexity of cancer treatment. He said Stanford is effectively out of capacity for cancer care and wants to expand services on a larger campus in Redwood City.

What Stanford Is Proposing

The full project could reach 1.75 million square feet across three buildings on Stanford's existing Redwood City campus. The hospital would be the largest structure in the plan and could include up to 470 inpatient beds.

Stanford is also asking city officials to allow the buildings to rise as high as 10 stories, or 175 feet. The company is seeking approval for the revised project from Redwood City, which still must sign off before any construction can begin.

The updated proposal is not a minor tweak to the old plan. Stanford says it is a substantially larger version of the 2013-approved concept, with a much bigger footprint and a new mix of hospital, outpatient and research space designed around cancer care.

Timeline And Review

Stanford plans to submit the updated proposal to the city this week. After that, the project is expected to move into a city-led environmental review process in 2026 and 2027.

If the proposal advances on Stanford's current schedule, phased construction could begin around 2029. Patient care in the new hospital and clinic would not open until roughly 2035 to 2037.

That makes the current filing the start of a long public process, not the finish line. The city review will determine whether Stanford can proceed on the timeline it has described.

Why Redwood City Matters

The expansion would shift more of Stanford's cancer-care activity away from Palo Alto and toward Redwood City. Stanford already operates medical facilities there, including outpatient services, but the new campus would mark a much larger commitment to the site.

For Stanford, the plan is about capacity and complexity. The university says it needs room for more patients and for cancer treatment that increasingly requires specialized facilities and coordinated services.

For Redwood City, the stakes are land use, scale and public review. The project will go through an environmental review process before officials can decide whether the proposed campus fits the site and the surrounding area.

Stanford said it will also hold virtual community meetings about the proposal as the review process begins. Those meetings, along with the city process, are likely to shape the public debate over the project.

The result would be a major new anchor for cancer care in the Bay Area if it is approved. But for now, it remains a proposal that depends on city sign-off before Stanford can move ahead.