Roper St. Francis Healthcare breaks ground on future Roper Hospital campus in North Charleston ancho

In a bold leap toward the future of healthcare in the Lowcountry, Roper St. Francis Healthcare broke ground today on a transformative future Roper Hospital campus — a $1.2 billion project that promises to reshape the region’s medical landscape and anchor its next chapter of care.

Spanning 27 acres in the heart of North Charleston, the future campus is the square-footage size of 20 football fields and will serve as a testament to vision, scale and innovation.

Heralded as one of the most advanced hospital construction projects in the South, the monumental build is expected to generate a staggering $2.5 billion economic impact and spur 3,600 related jobs. The new campus is slated for completion in 2029, setting the stage for a new era in the health system’s storied 170-year history.

“We’re not just erecting walls and hallways,” said President and CEO Joseph DeLeon. “We’re building the next chapter of a nearly 2-century-old story where each brick represents a patient, loved one, teammate or community member who has been or will be touched by our mission of healing all people with compassion, faith and excellence.”

More than 350 Roper Hospital teammates, elected officials and community leaders joined the celebration at the corner of Lacrosse Road and Mall Drive, close to the interchange of interstates 26 and 526, where Roper St. Francis Healthcare purchased six prime real estate parcels in 2022 to build the campus.

Roper St. Francis Healthcare has long maintained a strong presence in North Charleston, operating the Roper Hospital Diagnostics & ER – Northwoods in the city, along with two Express Care locations, the medical office building at University Boulevard and the Roper St. Francis Greer Transitions Clinic.

“Roper Hospital is more than a building,” said North Charleston Mayor Reginald Burgess. “It’s a symbol of progress, hope and commitment to our community. I’m truly honored that North Charleston, the third largest city in South Carolina, will be home to this transformative project.”

The future campus will be the fourth location for Roper Hospital since it opened in downtown Charleston in 1856. The move to North Charleston will mark another significant step in the Roper St. Francis Healthcare 2030 Strategic Plan to broaden access to quality care by expanding the health system’s footprint in the Lowcountry and addressing future clinical needs.

“The heart of Roper Hospital has always been its people and its purpose,” said Regional President for Roper Hospital Troy Powell. “By instilling that heart into a cutting-edge, more accessible facility, we’re ensuring our mission continues reaching even more lives across Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties.”

The hospital design has been a labor of love these past few months, relying heavily on the very clinicians who will treat patients in its operating rooms, from the lab and by the bedside. Over the past year, nurses, physicians and teammates dedicated more than 550 hours to hands-on design sessions, using full-scale mockup rooms, virtual reality tours and 3D renderings to refine everything from emergency bay layouts to hybrid operating room configurations.

The facilities are being designed and constructed to the highest standards of resilience — capable of withstanding floods, hurricanes and earthquakes — while also incorporating the latest in medical technology, patient-centered design and security.

“Today’s celebration is the culmination of years of planning, hours of teammate design input and unwavering support from our design and construction partners,” said Charles Fletcher, vice president of construction, real estate and support services.

 The campus will feature:

• A full-service, 24-hour emergency department equipped for trauma and critical care
• Multiple state-of-the-art operating rooms, including hybrid suites
• Comfort-focused inpatient units with advanced quality features
• A medical office building housing outpatient and specialty services
• A vegetated green belt connecting facilities across the campus
• Enhanced security systems, including weapons-recognition technology
• A fresh café, featuring a test kitchen where local chefs will be featured

“On behalf of our entire project team, the design process for the future Roper Hospital campus has been both a challenge and an incredible honor,” said Jeremy Bartz, Senior Executive Director at E4H Environments for Health Architecture. “From day one, our focus has been to engage, guide and most importantly listen — to the clinicians, administrators and patients who will bring this hospital to life. The result is an innovative and inclusive campus that reflects the Lowcountry’s identity while shaping the future of healthcare delivery in South Carolina. This is a medical campus designed not just for today, but to grow with the needs of the community it serves for decades to come."

The future Roper Hospital campus isn’t just a feat of healthcare innovation; it’s a massive engineering achievement. Here are just a few stats from the hospital build:

• There are enough cubic yards of concrete to fill 15.2 Olympic swimming pools.
• About 76,000 concrete canoes could be built with all the concrete being used.
• The steel used will weigh 1.4 times more than the Eiffel Tower.
• That’s also 63.1 times the weight of the Statue of Liberty.
• The foundation includes enough piles to build 18.4 Folly Beach Piers.
• If lined up end to end, the piles would stretch the length of King Street 12.5 times.

To help bring the future Roper Hospital campus to life, the Roper St. Francis Foundation has unveiled Imagine: The Campaign for Roper St. Francis Healthcare — a bold $100 million fundraising initiative running through 2030 that will fuel innovation, expand access and support the hospital’s move to North Charleston.

“The groundbreaking of this new hospital also marks a significant milestone in our Imagine campaign, reflecting our community's commitment to transforming healthcare in the Lowcountry,” said Anthony Burchard, president of the Roper St. Francis Foundation and vice president of Roper St. Francis Healthcare. “Through the generosity of our donors, we're not just constructing a building; we're creating a space where compassionate, innovative care will thrive for generations to come. This moment exemplifies how, together, we can reimagine and shape the future of health and wellness in our region.”

Design for the campus is led by E4H Environments for Health Architecture and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) — firms widely recognized for their work with leading healthcare systems, including Baylor Scott & White and New York-Presbyterian (E4H), and Emory Winship Cancer Center (SOM). They are supported by general contractors Barton Malow Builders and Edifice Construction.

While the new hospital marks a major shift, Roper St. Francis Healthcare remains committed to Charleston’s peninsula, where its first hospital opened at the corner of Queen and Logan streets. Leaders are actively developing plans and evaluating multiple sites to ensure the health system maintains a strong presence in the city’s historic core.