A planned health campus in Bentonville will include a hospital with more than 250 beds, 40 operating rooms and a separate 1.1 million-square-foot cancer center, substantially expanding the scale of a project intended to bring more advanced specialty care to Arkansas and the broader Heartland.
The Alice L. Walton Foundation and Mercy announced the details as they broke ground September 17 on the AWSOM Whole Health Campus, a site of more than 120 acres. Together, the hospital, cancer center and first specialty-care building would add nearly 3 million square feet of health-care space in Northwest Arkansas.
The first building, a 709,000-square-foot Center for Advanced Specialty Care, is now under construction and is scheduled to open in 2029. It will initially provide cardiac care in affiliation with Cleveland Clinic, along with orthopedics, gastroenterology and neurology. The hospital and cancer center remain in development; the announcement did not provide opening dates, total construction costs or a final count of permanent jobs for those facilities.
The project also received its first announced philanthropic commitment: a combined $50 million pledge from Tyson Foods and the Tyson Family Foundation. Mercy said the campus will operate alongside its existing Northwest Arkansas hospital, which is expanding services and working toward a Level II trauma-center designation.
A large answer to a regional care gap
The scale matters because Northwest Arkansas has grown rapidly while many residents still travel for complex treatment. Arkansas Advocate reported that organizers intend to use specialty centers, virtual care and partnerships with local providers to reach rural communities beyond Bentonville. The model is designed to keep routine and follow-up care close to home while routing patients who need advanced procedures to the campus.
The development rests on a long-term partnership. The Alice L. Walton Foundation and Mercy previously committed $350 million each over 30 years for facilities and physician recruitment, and the organizations have a 10-year collaboration with Cleveland Clinic. Axios reported that the broader effort responds to a regional specialty-care shortage estimated to leave nearly $1 billion in annual health-care economic activity unmet.
For patients, the most concrete near-term milestone is the specialty center's planned 2029 opening. The new hospital and cancer center represent a much larger future capacity commitment, but their practical impact will depend on construction schedules, clinician recruitment, insurance participation and how effectively the hub connects with community providers across the state.
The announcement therefore marks a consequential expansion plan rather than immediate new access. Construction has started on one component, financing partnerships are in place, and the proposed hospital and oncology footprint is unusually large for the region. Arkansas patients will need future updates on timelines, service availability and referral pathways before the full statewide effect can be measured.
