It will be Wake County.
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Time to play our favorite game of baseless speculations! From the Triangle Business Journal yesterday (edit: also from @paytonc in this post): UNC and Duke’s healthcare businesses ended their disputes over UNC’s bid for a new hospital across NC54 from the Boxyard…
…and UNC is seemingly putting their RTP plans on hold as part of this settlement. Instead:
UNC Health has a facility, UNC Health Panther Creek on the corner of McCrimmon Parkway and NC-55. However, UNC Health also owns 52 acres of land about two miles away, just off of NC-885. At the time, the hospital network said that they “did not buy the land for a specific immediate purpose, but instead [for] future expansion.” My personal guess is that this is where that “Cary Campus” could be.
If anyone’s curious, Duke got an as-yet-undisclosed number of beds in their main hospital campus out of this deal. Neither of these deals seem to be directly related to the Children’s Hospital.
However, this does bring the RTP site (made up of 16.0 and 17.9-acre lots) back into play. This would still require 66 additional acres to get to the proposed 100+ acres, though. On three of its four sides, this land is surrounded by Research Triangle High School, BASF’s North American headquarters for crop protection and plant science divisions, and Boxyard/Frontier RTP. The NIEHS does own some seemingly-underused land across NC-885 from UNC’s properties to the south, though, so I guess it’s still possible (though unlikely?) for the children’s hospital to span on both sides of the toll highway.
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Seems our prior speculation was right: looking like this will be at the site by SAS. I imagine Goodnight will donate most of the land and we will have the Goodnight NC Children’s Hospital.
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Hey what’s my prize?!
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Goodnight CHoNC, please
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I figured since they were closing Lake Crabtree it would go on that land. Being next to the airport makes more sense., IMO. It’s also pretty scenic, despite the fact that it’s polluted 
Crabtree might not be good because it’s so close to the flight path, and this place is likely to have a helipad that gets uses quite a lot.
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nobody is “closing Lake Crabtree.”
RDU which owns the land that PART of Lake Crabtree Park sits on, is forced to take back its land which affects the wooded area with the mountain bike trails. It’s in the RDU topic There is nothing happening to the rest of the park or the Lake. The Lake Trail will remain open, allowing continued access to the Black Creek Greenway, 286, and the Town of Cary’s Reedy Creek Trailhead.
Also, the exit for SAS where the CHoNC will be built is literally the very next exit closer to Raleigh than Lake Crabtree Park. 2 miles difference.
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Sure whatever… The plan is to develop the majority of the land that is currently being used for mountain bike trails. The main entrance into the park is off Aviation Blvd which leads directly to the airport. So if your plan is to develop the majority of the land, then having a children’s hospital next to a scenic lake and park makes sense to me.
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I can look up who owns what property anywhere and here is where SAS or Reedy Creek Investments controlled by Goodnight owns property in this circled area. There is ample room for a hospital here and it does have access to N Harrison Ave and of course the exit with I-40 without going through the main entrance to the current SAS campus. Weston Parkway could easily be extended into this area.
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Long ago, there was a plan to extend Cary Parkway, and connect it to the Trinity Road bridge over I-40.
SAS and the Goodnights own all the land back there. This idea was put on the shelf 20 years ago because the Goodnights decided they didn’t want it built at the time, but the thought was that it would be taken back off the shelf if that ever changed.
I assume it’s almost a guarantee that this CHoNC plan will bring this idea back to life.
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this area and TONS of surrounding Harrison/Weston pkwy hotels and restaurants and some shopping make a lot of sense for them locating a huge kids’ hospital there for the entire state, much more convenient for patients and families visiting CHONC than a current park with absolutely no commercial development at Lake Crabtree.
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I thought the whole reason they wanted so much land for the children’s hospital was to incorporate the amenities you’ve mentioned. I could be wrong, but I vaguely remember reading that when this idea was announced.
Maybe things like a Ronald McDonald house and multiple medical office buildings on the campus but did not think they would do hotels unless special needs type of lodging. Ronald McDonalds has a house at WakeMed, Duke and Chapel Hill but probably will have one for sure at this Childrens Hospital campus.
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I went back and read through some of the older posts. Sounds like they are planning to build out a lot of the amenities onsite.
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There’s not necessarily a conflict; the Goodnight family also owns the Umstead Hotel, for instance.
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I doubt many visiting the new Childrens Hospital would stay at the Umstead is it is 5 star and very expensive. I would expect extended stay type brands from Hilton and Marriott families. People will travelling here across the state and will need reasonably priced hotels.
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Certainly true for most, but if we are effective in attracting the the type of physicians that Philadelphia and Boston Children’s Hospitals have, wealthy families will seek treatment here and likely choose to stay at Umstead.
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There is an Extended Stay Cary and Embassy Suites already there too. Also a dual brand Marriott Courtyard / Residence Inn is currently under construction.
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