Do the Goodnights really want ambulances and helicopters and traffic near the Umstead and SAS?
The Army National Guard ramp at nearby RDU can accommodate about 25 helicopters. Plus there are already the TV stations, the NC SHP, etc flying around the area although they’re not based at RDU.
I’m not really sure how children’s hospitals work. You certainly will know better than me! That said, would a children’s hospital have an emergency room that could see ambulances and sirens, or is it more likely that people will come to the hospital for non-ER type services? Also, I suspect that Goodnights aren’t going to let their philanthropy get in the way of their 
hotel.
I suspect most who come to this new Childrens Hospitals will be referred from other hospitals in the state. When the care they need is more than the local hospital can provide they will come here not in siren blaring ambulance but in quiet transfer. Sure they will have a helicopter pad but the first stop for most will be the local hospital even those in Raleigh.
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I’d be pretty shocked if this hospital doesn’t have an emergency room. Most of the children’s hospitals in the tier they are shooting to be have them.
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This will be the Level 1 trauma center for children in NC. Burns ,auto accidents and med-evacs from all over the state will come there. Rex is Level 3 and they get lots of ambulances and helicopters. I would not bet on this being a quiet spot. Most children in NC are poor not rich.
This. It will be VERY active over there, but I doubt it will be designed in a way that’s disruptive to SAS.
The helipad at UNC is pretty active and I don’t think anyone even notices it unless they’re outside at a sporting event at one of the facilities right next to the hospital.
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I was thinking more about the hotel. I mean their main identity is spa, peace, quiet and in the woods. But I’m ok if y’all don’t agree with me.
Here is how it is done at CHOA the Atlanta Childrens Hospital which just built a huge new hospital. Patients are referred from across the state of Georgia here and that is what will happen in NC with our new facility. If you drive into Atlanta on I-85 from NC towards Midtown downtown you can not miss this tower it is huge! https://www.choa.org/about-us/history
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My office for my day job is near the top floor of a nearly-double-digit-story building that’s on the final approach path for UNC Hospitals’ helipad, and I can vouch for this.
I can clearly see all the air ambulances and military medevac helicopters coming and going from right out of my window. But even then, the sound of the door slamming in a nearby hallway is far more distracting to me than any of those. (Sure, it’s helpful to have thick panes of glass for windows. …but the point is that it’s easy to block out the sound.) The only place I can think of where I consistently have to be mindful of helicopter noises is when I go to the Starbucks in the hospital - and that’s only because its outdoor patio is almost directly under the helipad.
In other words: I doubt the Umstead has to worry that much about ambulance and helicopter noises from this future hospital. Or at least, if they ever complain about it, my first instinct would be to assume that something went wrong and they’re weaponizing that concern in bad faith just like how Duke did for the failed light rail project.
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The Umstead is right next to I-40. The larger parcels that Goodnight (aka Reedy Creek Investments) controls are west or south of the SAS campus itself, and I think the most common assumption is that it’ll be the tract between Harrison and SAS, rather than behind SAS/Cary Academy.
That there are already hotels and restaurants nearby would seem to be a plus – more variety, and less need to provide those services on-campus.
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Goodnight didn’t make his BILLIONS overlooking stuff like Oh Crap there’s HELICOPTERS?
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From the Triangle Biz Journal yesterday lots of land purchases around the SAS campus continue
““Reedy Creek Investments signed a deed with homeowner Susan Kearney on May 29 for a 1.1-acre parcel at 609 Richard Drive, located off North Harrison Avenue near Interstate 40. The price was $1 million, according to deed records.”” this including a log cabin even in high cost Cary that is a lot LOL. Also in the article Reedy Creek investments now owns 450 acres around the SAS campus (but excludes that campus) along N Harrison. This is surely the site of the massive hospital site and probably some left over for RCI to build additional hotels and medical offices too.
https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2025/06/02/cary-land-sas-goodnight-reedy-creek-hospital.html
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The more I think about these land purchases as the possible site for NC Childrens Hospital there will be a big demand for housing nearby and that something Goodknight has done with his various communities. So gift the land or sell it very cheap to the hospital then develop most of the land around it with townhomes, apartments, retail and some office space.
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Goodnight is also the moneybags behind Preston Development.
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Maybe not so fast on the SAS location?
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Sounds like Veridea. That’s a little surprising.
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The timeline seems very drawn out too.
This is surprising but Veridea has a good location I do think land near SAS might be better but that location is accessible too. I wonder if it got down to land costnbeing cheaper and I just wonder why Goodnight was buying up lots of land and parcels near the SAS campus. Obviously he can still develop the property for other uses. Apex which is fast growing but its tax base is so much residential I wonder if they provided or will provide some incentives for it to locate there (property tax breaks) to jump start a lot of commercial construction.
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