Duke Health and Novant Health have filed a joint certificate of need (CON) application to build a 46-bed acute care hospital in Mebane, the same number also being sought by Cone Health, which filed its request with the state the same day.
The project would represent a total investment of $225 million for the Duke Novant Mebane Hospital, according to its application with the Healthcare Planning and Certification of Need section of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
Cone’s application with the state lists its investment as $250 million, although a press release from Cone states the amount as $275 million.
Both Duke and Cone Health filed their certificate of need applications with the state on Tuesday, seeking to build new hospitals to serve the growing Mebane area (see related story this edition.)
Duke’s filing did not show up on the department’s website until late in the day on Wednesday, after the newspaper’s normal deadline and too late to contact anyone with Duke Health.
Both applications list the exact same “project description”: “Develop a new hospital with no more than 46 acute care beds pursuant to the 2025 SMFP (State Medical Facilities Plan) need determination.”
State law requires healthcare providers to obtain permission from the Department of Health and Human Services before expanding or building new facilities in North Carolina.
The Healthcare Planning and Certification of Need Section within the state health department will schedule a public hearing on the proposal but had not set a date by press time.
The deadline to submit written comments is June 2.
There is no indication of precisely where Duke’s Mebane hospital might be, but Duke Health began clearing and grading work two years ago for a three-story office building with 58,764 square feet on about 22 acres it owns along Gregory Poole Lane.
However, all work on the office building has been stopped for over a year.
Mebane officials told The Alamance News in 2023 that while no formal plans for multiple buildings had been filed with the city, discussions at the time had indicated that there were plans for multiple buildings on Duke’s Gregory Poole Lane site.
Duke University Health System purchased the Mebane properties for a potential office building, multiple healthcare and construction trade publications reported in late 2021, paying about $3.1 million for lots on both sides of Gregory Poole Lane, based on documents filed with Alamance County’s Register of Deeds.
Mebane officials have indicated there were originally plans for multiple buildings on the site where the Duke Health medical office building was planned.
Duke’s Gregory Poole Lane site backs up to the recently-approved Koury Corporation multi-use development, which includes a shopping center with 300,000 square feet of retail space; 645 apartments in 12 3- and 4-story apartment buildings); and 38 townhouses. Site work began there this week. (See separate story this edition.)
The Koury Corporation has also left blank on its approved site plans a 9-acre portion adjacent to the property already owned by Duke Health along Gregory Poole Lane.
Koury officials said during the December city council meeting when their rezoning request was approved that they hoped to work with Duke, but with or without such cooperation, there is a market for additional medical offices which they’re planning to accommodate.
