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Tuesday, February 11, 2025

UNC Health plots $462 million hospital in north Wake County

UNC Health has filed plans to build a $462.1 million, 50-bed community hospital in Wake Forest, northeast of Raleigh. The hospital would “increase access and improve care in a fast-growing region of the state,” according to a release.

In a separate filing, UNC Health also wants to add 20 acute care beds and two operating rooms at its main Raleigh hospital at a cost of $16.5 million.

Both projects require approval from the state’s Certificate of Need office, part of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. DHHS is accepting written comment on the proposals through Oct. 1, and will hold a public hearing at 9:30 a.m., Oct. 18, at the McKimmon Conference & Training Center in Raleigh. A decision from the CON office is not expected until next year.

“Our proposals will allow us to meet the growing healthcare needs of our community and begin to alleviate our current capacity constraints,” said Kirsten Riggs, interim president of UNC Health Rex. “We are eager to begin development of a new hospital in northern Wake County and to expand our main Raleigh campus. We want to be ready to provide excellent care for our region’s aging and growing population closer to home.”

The new hospital is ticketed for a roughly 50-acre parcel behind a shopping center anchored by Lowes Foods on Capital Boulevard, also known as U.S. 1. Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary owns the property.

The new hospital would eventually employ more than 500 people, according to UNC Health.

The certificate of need process ofter spurs objections from other healthcare providers, when hospital systems seek to expand.

WakeMed is trying to block Duke Raleigh Hospital’s requests for permission to add two new CT scanners and an MRI machine.

But health providers see opportunity in fast-growing Wake County. 

WakeMed submitted five certificate of need applications in August, for a total of four more operating rooms and a net of 26 additional acute-care beds to serve a couple of Wake’s towns.

August also saw Novant Health file for permission to build a 36-bed hospital in Knightdale, and Duke Raleigh Hospital wants to add three operating rooms.

UNC Health is a state entity and an affiliated enterprise of the University of North Carolina System, comprised of 15 hospitals, including UNC Health Rex in Raleigh, 19 hospital campuses and more than 900 clinics along with the clinical patient care programs of the UNC School of Medicine.

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