The Daily Dig
The Alice L. Walton Foundation and Mercy broke ground September 17, 2026, on a 120+-acre health care campus in Bentonville, Arkansas. The campus is set to bring nearly 3 million new square feet of specialty care facilities to the region.
Nabholz is serving as construction manager for the project's first phase. CannonDesign is lead architect and EDSA is handling landscape architecture and planning.
The first building out of the ground is the Center for Advanced Specialty Care. At 709,000 square feet, it will focus on cardiac care in affiliation with Cleveland Clinic. It's set to open in 2029 and will also house orthopedics, gastroenterology, and neurology services.
The full campus plan also includes more than 1.1 million square feet for cancer care. It includes a new hospital too, with over 250 beds and 40 operating rooms across roughly 1 million more square feet.
Multi-Story Money: The groundbreaking came with a $50 million combined pledge from the Tyson Family Foundation and Tyson Foods, Inc. It's the first philanthropic milestone for the campus.
"Today marks an important step toward realizing a vision that has been years in the making," said founder and philanthropist Alice Walton.
The campus is being built alongside Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas, which is separately pursuing a new Level II Trauma Center designation. Mercy President and CEO Steve Mackin called the groundbreaking "a defining moment for Northwest Arkansas and the Heartland."
Cleveland Clinic CEO and President Tom Mihaljevic, M.D., said the partnership supports the health system's goal of "reaching more patients to provide exceptional care and the best experience in health care."
Snapshot:
Project Name: AWSOM Whole Health Campus
Developer: Alice L. Walton Foundation
Health System Partner: Mercy
Clinical Affiliate (Cardiac Care, First Building): Cleveland Clinic
Construction Manager (Phase 1): Nabholz
Lead Architect: CannonDesign
Landscape Architecture/Planning: EDSA
Location: Bentonville, Arkansas (two miles east of downtown)
Total Site Size: 120+ acres
Sector: Health care/specialty care
First Building: Center for Advanced Specialty Care
First Building Size: 709,000 square feet
First Building Specialties: Cardiac care, orthopedics, gastroenterology, neurology
First Building Opening: 2029
Cancer Care Component: More than 1.1 million square feet
Hospital Component: 250+ beds, 40 operating rooms, approximately 1 million square feet
Total Planned Specialty Care Space: Nearly 3 million square feet
Philanthropic Pledge: $50 million (Tyson Family Foundation and Tyson Foods, Inc.)
Related Initiative: Alice L. Walton School of Medicine (AWSOM), with Mercy as primary education partner
Related Facility: Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas (ongoing expansion, pursuing Level II Trauma Center designation)
Groundbreaking Date: September 17, 2026
Mercy System Size: 55 acute care and specialty hospitals across Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, plus clinics and outreach in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas
TheJobWalk Thoughts
The source confirms a 2029 opening for the first building only. No timeline is given for the cancer care component or the hospital. For GCs and subs, that's worth tracking closely, since a large share of this campus's total footprint still doesn't have a public construction schedule attached to it.
Nabholz holds construction management for Phase 1, with CannonDesign and EDSA already locked in as design partners. That's a fairly typical early-stage team structure for a campus this size, and it usually means the bulk of trade-level subcontractor selection is still ahead rather than behind.
A $50 million pledge announced at groundbreaking is a strong show of community and corporate support, especially coming from a regional anchor like Tyson. It doesn't tell us anything about the project's total capital stack or funding status beyond that gift, but it's the kind of early momentum that tends to draw more philanthropic and civic attention to a project as it moves through construction.
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