Updated Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019
Atrium Health has asked state regulators for permission to build a new hospital off I-77 in Cornelius.
Atrium applied for a state certificate of need for the new hospital Oct. 15. Plans call for a new acute-care hospital with 30 beds and two operating rooms.
The 160,000-square-foot building would be built at the southwest corner of U.S. 21 and Westmoreland Road. That area was once slated for a massive mixed-use project called Augustalee, until it went into foreclosure in 2009.
If approved, the proposed Atrium Health Lake Norman could open in early 2023.
Atrium said the new hospital would fill a need that's the result of population growth in the area. It would operate as an extension of Atrium Health University City.
The 30 beds would include 20 medical/surgical acute care beds; six labor, delivery and recovery rooms; and four intensive care beds, the hospital said in a statement Tuesday. It would have a 24-hour emergency department, with a helipad, as well as X-ray and other imaging units and lab and pharmacy services.
The proposed hospital would be the system's first acute-care hospital in north Mecklenburg. Atrium has hospitals in Concord and Charlotte, and a behavioral health hospital in Davidson. It would compete with Novant Health Huntersville Medical Center, which has 139 beds and seven operating rooms, and with 123-bed Lake Norman Regional Medical Center in Mooresville.
State regulators must hold public hearings and take comments on the application before deciding whether to approve it.
