Business Relocation/Economic Expansion

[keita]

It seems like the idea isn’t just to build a hospital - but an entire medical ecosystem.

@the TBJ article

The plans are to develop a campus of about 100 acres that includes medical office buildings, outpatient facilities and capacity for research. The health system is also planning space for related development, like hotels, restaurants and other services that would support children and families traveling to the hospital.

The article explicitly uses the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta medical center as an example - but we can also think about Philadelphia’s Children’s Hospital, SickKids in Toronto, Sloan-Kettering in New York, Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, and Boston Children’s Hospital. All of those places have their own brands and legacies that are separate from the rest of their respective medical schools and adult teaching hospitals. Some of them even have their own hotel/restaurant/mixed-use development opportunities, jobs through NIH research grants, and even startup spinoffs!

This does not sound like something where it’d make sense to have a suburb-y development. Especially since we already know that RTP is aiming to become more urban, I wouldn’t be too worried about being saddled with even more empty oceans of surface parking lots.

Sewage - and land use more generally - could be deciding factors, though, like you’re suggesting:

In Wake County, one of the few areas where that amount of developable land is available is near its border with Johnston County […], Chatham County has available land and a solid highway connector in U.S. 64. There are also large parcels of land available north of Durham and closer to Hillsborough.

If UNC Health wants a more central location near the airport, the options are more limited. […] Access is an important consideration for any health care development, said Trey Adams, a managing partner at Atlas Stark. While Adams is not involved in UNC Health’s plans, he has experience working on medical facilities projects.

Most health care organizations develop facilities that patients can easily navigate entering and exiting, with plenty of space for parking, in highly populated areas. But the surrounding environment can also play a role. Adams said these sorts of facilities can involve buffer land and other components that create a campus-like feel. Atlanta’s new hospital, for instance, has a 20-acre garden.