JACKSON, Wyo. — On Wednesday, Sept. 10, Governor Mark Gordon, St. John’s Health (SJH), the St. John’s Health Foundation and members of the community all came together to celebrate breaking ground for the new Hitching Post employee complex, the hospital’s biggest housing project to date.
According to the Town, the Hitching Post Apartments, located at 460 East Broadway Ave., will provide 72 affordable housing units for the hospital’s healthcare workers. All of the units are to be 100% deed-restricted, including 22 one-bedroom, 48 two-bedroom and two three-bedroom apartments.
Gordon set the tone of the celebration by noting the critical importance of medical care in rural communities. He said that adequate care “depends on having a workforce and a workforce really depends on having a place to live.”
“Thankfully, communities like Jackson decided that we can’t have people going elsewhere,” Gordon told the crowd. “As you look around Wyoming, we do have challenges with workforce housing. It requires the ability to come together as communities and recognize that challenge if we are going to be able to develop the kind of housing that people can afford and can count on.”
Gordon commended the community for working together to set aside $24 million in Special Purpose Tax (SPET) to help ensure that St. John’s will be a “bellwether for the nation and the country.” He emphasized that St. John’s is not only important to Jackson but to Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park and visitors, as well as being a critical resource for the surrounding areas of Dubois, Bondurant, Pinedale and Star Valley.
SJH Chief Executive OfficerJeff Sollis talking to the crowd. Photo: Leigh Reagan Smith // Buckrail 
Photo: Leigh Reagan Smith // Buckrail 
Governor Gordon making remarks. Photo: Leigh Reagan Smith // Buckrail 
Photo: Leigh Reagan Smith // Buckrail 
The cleared site at the Hitching Post. Photo: Leigh Reagan Smith // Buckrail
SJH Chief Executive Officer Jeff Sollis led the crowd in a cheer of gratitude and celebration for working together on the project. Sollis said that many months of public feedback have helped to design a building that would be a wonderful space for families. While sharing his personal experience with commuting over Teton Pass as a Victor, Idaho, resident, he stressed the need for local housing.
“The reality is that many people have to live close to the hospital in order to provide great care to our patients, especially during emergency situations,” Sollis said. “It’s not just about affordability and availability in housing, it’s also about housing security.”
Sollis stressed that too many people in Teton County are living with housing insecurity.
“To live with that kind of insecurity in the back of your mind all the time is really unhealthy,” Sollis said. “It’s tragic when we see amazing colleagues that have to leave our community because they don’t have secure housing.”
SJH Foundation President Anna Olson told the crowd that the new housing will provide homes to hundreds of people in the years ahead. During the groundbreaking event, Olson shared the next phase of construction with Buckrail. She said that the site has been cleared and concrete pouring is slated to begin in the next few weeks.
Shaw Construction Senior Project Manager Dale Staten told Buckrail that crews are ahead of schedule and waiting to receive the building permit from the Town of Jackson. Staten said that crews will work throughout the winter months, with an anticipated completion date in the winter of 2027/2028. He noted that the original historic cabins and some of the non-historic structures on the site were preserved and relocated around the valley, prior to clearing the grounds this past spring.
Olson said that the application process for the housing units will be announced closer to the project’s completion date. Application criteria will consider the clinical need at the hospital, patient needs and individual housing needs, according to Olson.
