By HFT Staff

UNC Health Rex has filed plans with state regulators to build a new community hospital in Wake Forest, a project that will increase access and improve care in a fast-growing region of the state. 

UNC Health Rex recently filed two Certificate of Need applications. The first would add 20 acute care beds and two operating rooms at UNC Health Rex’s main Raleigh hospital. The second application is to build a 50-bed community hospital in Wake Forest. 

The projects require approval from the state’s CON office, part of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. That office has scheduled a public hearing on the projects, as well as several competing proposals, at 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 18, at the McKimmon Conference & Training Center in Raleigh. The CON office is expected to issue a decision next year. 

The Wake Forest hospital would be built on approximately 50 acres now owned by the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.  This land is at the corner of Capital Boulevard and Stadium Drive, behind a current shopping center anchored by Lowes Foods. The new hospital would eventually employ more than 500 people.