Novant Health is preparing to start construction of its nearly $60 million orthopedic hospital in midtown Charlotte.
Vannoy Construction is the general contractor for the project, designed by Wright McGraw Beyer Architects.
Work is ongoing to relocate the hospital’s entrance to the rear of the facility off of Vail Ave. and to create additional walkways for patient access.
Plans are for the front of the hospital to close Jan. 4 to make way for construction.
“It will literally be building in the front parking lot of Charlotte Orthopedic Hospital,” says hospital vice-president Jason Bernd. “That’s one of the challenges.”
The Charlotte Business Journal reports that the 174,000-sq. ft. facility should be complete by November, 2018.
The project will be split into two phases. The first will be a three-story, 89,000-sq. ft. tower at the corner of Fifth St. and Caswell Rd., with 32 inpatient, 16 skilled nursing and 12 observation beds. Seven inpatient operating rooms are planned.
The tower is slated for completion in November 2017.
From there, plans are to renovate the existing 85,000-sq. ft. hospital at 1901 Randolph Rd.
That space is more than 50 years old. It was converted from a hotel into a skilled-nursing building before becoming an orthopedic facility. Upgrades will allow a portion of it to be used as an outpatient surgery center. Details and costs of that piece of the project are still being finalized.
That space also will be used for support departments such as patient and family waiting rooms, surgery prep and recovery as well sterile processing, physician and staff lockers and break rooms.
The scope — and price — of the project has been reduced to better meet changes in how care is delivered, Bernd says.
The cost is now $60 million, down from $84 million originally.