$20M Hospital for Anson County; $16M Expansion for Matthews Hospital

By Eliza Theiss, Associate Editor

The healthcare industry continues to be one of the main drivers of economic development in the Charlotte area, and Carolinas HealthCare System’s recent string of expansions and upgrades is proof of this. This week, the nation’s second largest healthcare system announced plans to seek state permission for a $20 million rural hospital in Anson County. The Charlotte-based healthcare provider plans to replace the current Anson Community Hospital with a $20 million, single-story facility that could become the new model for hospitals and healthcare services in rural areas.

The current 52-bed, 80,000-square-foot hospital in Wadesboro is over 50 years old and is becoming unusable as a healthcare facility. If plans are approved, the new facility might be operational by mid-2014. According to a Charlotte Business Journal report, Carolinas Healthcare will bring its plan before state regulators in June.

In further healthcare news, Presbyterian Hospital Matthews has started work on its 26,000-square-foot fifth floor. The $16.6 million expansion project is expected to be completed in August 2013. Until then, the parking lot near the front of the entrance will be closed. Overflow parking will be taken over by the recently operational 409-space, $2.1 million lot.

The fifth floor is the first major construction project in 18 years at the 1500 Matthews Township Parkway facility, which saw an approximately 60 percent increase of in-patient days in the last decade.

With its current structure and layout, Presbyterian Hospital Matthews has 114 patient beds. The expansion will add 20 patient beds and will also house intensive, intermediate and cancer care units, the Matthews-Mint Hill Weekly reported.

In other healthcare news, the Cabarrus Health Alliance opened and dedicated its new $15 million facility in Kannapolis. The Fletcher L. Hartsell Jr. Health Center honors State Senator Fletcher L. Hartsell, who was instrumental in changing the state legislature so that public health authority Cabarrus Health Alliance could form in 1997. The three-story building will feature a kitchen for healthy cooking classes on the first floor, labs and exam rooms on the second floor, and administrative offices and meeting space on the third floor, according to the Independent Tribune.

Photo credit Novant Health via Wikimedia Commons