APEX, N.C. (WTVD) — The Town of Apex has been selected as the home for North Carolina Children’s Health Campus. It will be the only freestanding, independent children’s hospital in the Carolinas.
When construction is complete, the campus will bring 8,000 jobs to Apex and Wake County.
The campus will have 500-beds, a children’s outpatient care center, 103 children and adolescent behavioral health beds, and a research and education section backed by UNC and Duke schools of medicine.
Hospital officials believe the massive facility will transform healthcare for North Carolinians and potentially transform the area, too.
“This is a proud moment for this wonderful town, this is a proud moment for the county, and certainly this is a proud moment for the great state of North Carolina,” said Duke Health CEO Craig Albanese.
The hospital complex, once completed, will be by far the largest pediatric hospital in North Carolina and will allow Duke Health and UNC Health to pool their resources in new ways.
“By bringing both institutions together that the physicians and nurses that care for kids, Duke and UMC, we now have a critical mass of people that take care of kids, and we can develop specialties within specialties that we can’t do right now,” said Wesley Burks, CEO of UNC Health.
The hospital campus is the latest addition to Veridia, the more than 1000-acre development off of NC-55 and NC-540 that will also include thousands of homes, new retail, dining and office space and a new Wake Tech Community College campus. In downtown Apex, local business owners are expecting a major impact from the development.
“8000 more people working here every day, hopefully calling Apex home as well, that’s big for us,” said Kyle Denis, owner of Apex Outfitter & Board Co.
Denis has owned the outerwear shop in downtown Apex for 14 years, seeing firsthand the town’s population explosion. He believes the children’s hospital is just the latest step in that growth.
“You see it every day. We have customers come in who have moved from California, Michigan, New York, all over. But the growth has been tremendous for sure,” he said.
The building will be located at the intersection of US-1 and NC-540.
“We are incredibly excited to confirm Apex and Wake County as the home for NC Children’s,” said Wesley Burks, M.D., CEO of UNC Health and dean of the UNC School of Medicine.
“This campus will create a brighter, healthier future for generations of children and adolescents across North Carolina and the Southeast, and we’re thrilled to have Apex as our home and partner.”
A groundbreaking is anticipated in 2027, and construction is expected to take six years.
Copyright © 2025 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.
link