The River People Health Center’s campus on the southern edge of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community will have a new place to grab a hot drink and a bite to eat, perhaps as soon as late next year.

A short ceremony took place May 19 on the campus’ south side to break ground on a café conference center. The new 22,423-square-foot building will sit just south of the health center near the outdoor walking track, east of Journey to Recovery. It is scheduled to open in about 18 months. 

The building will have a café and cafeteria with features similar to the Round House Café at Two Waters. It will be operated by Aramark. The building will also house three conference rooms, office space and a teaching kitchen. The largest conference room has space to hold 100 to 120 people, with the flexibility to open into the cafeteria’s space. The other two conference rooms will have space for 12 seats and 20 seats, respectively.

SRPMIC Health and Human Services Director Joe Remitera counted down the days until the groundbreaking and will likely continue to count down until the opening. At the groundbreaking, he thanked SRPMIC leadership, tribal government staff and all the others who have contributed to the project. 

“I’ve been waiting for this day for four years, four days and eight minutes—because that’s when we opened up the River People Health Center, and from that time, I’ve been asked when we will build a cafeteria,” he said. “I’m happy to say that we are building it now, so this is a very significant day for us.”

The groundbreaking included a traditional song and blessing. SRPMIC President Martin Harvier also shared a few words.

SmithGroup, the Phoenix architectural design company that designed the River People Health Center and won awards for its effort, also designed the new building. 

Café Conference Center:

• Conference Rooms
  • 1 large flexible conference space
  • 1 medium conference room
  • 1 small conference room
• Teaching Kitchen
• Facility Engineers Operations Space
  • 3 offices
  • 16 touch-down spaces
  • 1 small conference room
• Facilities and Grounds Storage Room
• Café & Cafeteria
  • Operated by Aramark
  • Open to the public, similar to RHC
• Outdoor Seating 
• Areas with tables and gathering spaces