Nevada’s First Standalone Children’s Hospital Plans To Hire Thousands of Nurses

Nevada’s first standalone children’s hospital just cleared one of its biggest hurdles, and the project is set to reshape the pediatric nursing landscape in Southern Nevada. The Clark County Commission unanimously approved permits on May 20, 2026 for Intermountain Health to build an eight-story pediatric hospital with a heliport in southwest Las Vegas.

The more than $1 billion facility will rise on roughly 32 acres inside UNLV’s Harry Reid Research and Technology Park, near the 215 Beltway and Durango Drive. Intermountain Health first unveiled the site in October 2024, but this week’s approval was the milestone that moves construction off paper and into the ground.

For nurses watching the Las Vegas market, the timeline matters. Construction is expected to begin later in 2026, with the hospital projected to open by 2030 and staff up with thousands of new clinical hires along the way.

The Clark County Zoning Commission’s unanimous vote cleared permits for the hospital, a heliport, and height waivers needed for the eight-story design. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the building will stand 170 feet tall and span roughly 830,350 square feet, with about 642,100 square feet dedicated to hospital operations, 159,250 square feet of medical offices, and a 29,000 square foot central utility plant. Plans include 1,327 parking spaces.

The hospital will open with approximately 200 beds and house an emergency department, radiology, a clinical lab, pharmacy, surgical suites, inpatient pediatric rooms, and an inpatient behavioral health center. Architecture firms Shepley Bulfinch and Gensler are designing the campus.

Clark County Commissioner Michael Naft framed the vote as a turning point for the region, saying that “Today’s historic approval of Nevada’s first stand alone pediatric hospital, by the Clark County Commission, will forever change healthcare in southern Nevada.” Naft also said the project would save lives while diversifying the local economy.

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200 Beds, Up to 3,000 New Hires, and a Pediatric Specialty Lineup

Intermountain Health says the hospital will offer a full range of pediatric specialties under one roof, including cardiac surgery, orthopedic surgery, and oncology care. David Flood, president of the Intermountain Foundation, told KTNV the hospital will launch “with really everything,” signaling a broad service line at opening rather than a phased rollout of specialties.

The staffing footprint is significant. The Review-Journal reports the hospital is expected to hire 2,000 to 3,000 caregivers to operate the facility, a hiring wave that will pull from pediatric, emergency, surgical, behavioral health, and oncology nursing specialties. Thousands of additional construction jobs are expected during the build.

Las Vegas has long held an unwanted distinction in U.S. healthcare. According to the Las Vegas Sun, it is currently the largest metropolitan area in the United States without a dedicated standalone children’s hospital. Pediatric care in the valley is currently delivered through units inside adult hospitals, which limits capacity for complex specialty cases.

The result is that an estimated 29,000 children leave Southern Nevada each year for medical care, with families often traveling to facilities like Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. Mandy Richards of Intermountain Health put it bluntly to KTNV, telling reporters, “No child should have to travel when they’re at their weakest moment.”

Although this will be Nevada’s first standalone children’s hospital, Sunrise Children’s Hospital—a member of the Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center family—has been a cornerstone of care for more than three decades. As the state’s largest and most comprehensive pediatric facility, Sunrise also houses Nevada’s only congenital heart program.

For pediatric, NICU, PICU, ED, perioperative, oncology, and behavioral health nurses, this project is a long-runway staffing story worth tracking now. A 200-bed standalone children’s hospital does not simply absorb existing pediatric nurses in the valley, it pulls from regional and out-of-state talent pools, drives up demand for pediatric-certified RNs, and reshapes nurse-to-patient ratios across competing Las Vegas health systems.

Expect early job postings to begin well before the 2030 opening, particularly for nurse leadership, educators, and clinical specialists who help stand up new units. Nurses already practicing in Southern Nevada may see new internal transfer opportunities, tuition or certification incentives tied to pediatric specialties, and shifts in float pool and travel contract rates as systems compete to keep staff. For nurses outside Nevada considering relocation, the construction timeline gives a multi-year runway to earn pediatric certifications (CPN, CPEN, RNC-NIC) that are likely to be in high demand.

The behavioral health component is also worth noting. With an inpatient pediatric behavioral health center built into the design, the hospital will need psychiatric mental health nurses trained to work with children and adolescents, a workforce that is already in short supply nationally.

🤔 If you are a pediatric or PICU nurse, would you relocate to Las Vegas to help open a brand-new children’s hospital? What incentives would it take to get you there?

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