Atrium proceeds with plans for $154 million Charlotte-area hospital after early setback
Atrium Health will build a 30-bed hospital in Cornelius, Charlotte’s largest hospital system announced Monday.
The $154 million project, called Atrium Health Lake Norman, will be built at the southwest corner of the intersection of Westmoreland Road and state highway 21, according to Atrium.
The 160,000-square-foot facility is scheduled to open in 2024.
The new hospital plans to offer 30 acute care beds, including six maternity suites, two operating rooms, eight emergency department bays open 24/7 and a helipad.
The hospital will also offer imaging services including MRIs, CTs and x-rays, along with lab and pharmacy services.
The hospital’s plan for the Cornelius hospital was originally denied by the state. In order to build a new hospital or add hospital beds to a facility, health care systems must submit a certificate of need to be reviewed by the state’s Division of Health Service Regulation.
In this case, in findings released in April, the North Carolina agency said Atrium’s application failed to prove a need for the new facility.
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In the original application, Atrium “overstated” the number of patients who would be expected to use the new facility, according to the state.
And the agency argued there was no evidence patients driving from Iredell County to an Atrium Health hospital would choose the proposed Atrium Health Lake Norman over Atrium’s flagship location, Carolinas Medical Hospital, in Charlotte.
The 30 beds at the Lake Norman hospital location will be relocated from other Atrium Health locations, where new hospital beds have been approved by the state but not yet added.
In the state’s initial denial of the application, agency officials argued if there was a need for those beds at the locations approved earlier, there is no reason to shift the beds to a new facility.
However, the state later issued an approved certificate of need for the project.
The project was approved after Atrium provided additional information” to the state that resolved the matter,” the hospital system said in a statement.
Atrium did not respond to questions Monday about what additional information was shared with the state during the appeal process.
Other developments
The news comes amid other expansion deals for the hospital system.
In March, Atrium Health revealed the location of its Charlotte medical school, a second campus of the Wake Forest School of Medicine, in a partnership with Wake Forest Baptist Health.
The campus will be built on a 20-acre parcel at the intersection of Baxter Street and South McDowell Street.
“Because it’s right off of I-277, I believe it will become an iconic addition to the Queen City skyline,” Atrium CEO Gene Woods said at the time. “Everyone who sees it will know this is a place where excellence lives and excellence is learned.”
And in April, Atrium opened a $228-million medical plaza just down the street from the future med school campus.
That facility, Atrium Health Kenilworth Medical Plaza I and II, is the new flagship location for Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute.
This story was originally published July 12, 2021 at 3:14 PM.
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