Roper St. Francis to build massive $1B health campus in North Charleston

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Roper St. Francis Healthcare will build a new campus in North Charleston that will include a new hospital and office building.

The $1 billion Roper Hospital Medical Campus in North Charleston will occupy 27-acres near interstates 26 and 526 and be easily accessible for patients living in Berkeley, Charleston or Dorchester counties, according to a Roper release.

The project will be one of the largest, most advanced health care construction projects on the East Coast and will meet the health care needs of one of the fastest growing areas in the country.

“This new medical campus will be a paradigm for providing healthcare, whether that’s complex surgeries in a hospital or an annual checkup in an outpatient office,” said Dr. Jeffrey DiLisi, president and chief executive officer of Roper St. Francis Healthcare, said in the release. “We made the bold decision one year ago to move Roper Hospital, and I’m grateful to our North Charleston partners for breathing life into this dream. This new campus will ensure our ability to continue delivering the quality care that’s been the hallmark of our brand for generations.”

The new Roper Hospital Medical Campus is expected to include a full-service acute care hospital with a 24-hour Emergency Room, the release stated. The campus also will have a Medical Office Building where a vast array of outpatient and specialty care will be provided. Roper St. Francis Healthcare has secured six premium real estate parcels off Mall Drive near North Charleston City Hall to build the campus.

In November 2021, DiLisi announced a roadmap for the next decade for the Lowcountry’s largest health care system for adults that centered on caring for more patients, expanding services and modernizing technology to better serve future generations, the release stated. One of the five key initiatives of that Roper St. Francis Healthcare 2030 plan was optimizing the health care system’s footprint in the Lowcountry, which also includes expanding Roper St. Francis Berkeley Hospital and providing additional health care services in highly populated and growing communities.

This new campus will be the fourth location for Roper Hospital since it opened downtown in 1856 and will be technologically and structurally upgraded to better withstand natural disasters, such as floods, hurricanes and earthquake, the release stated.

While construction may take up to five years, Roper St. Francis Healthcare will continue to offer services on the Charleston peninsula to remain convenient to those in need downtown, according to the release.

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

Roper St. Francis Healthcare hired E4H Environments for Health Architecture and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) to design the new medical campus, the release stated. The partnership combines global design excellence with comprehensive health care planning and design expertise. These teams provide a combination of local knowledge and national thought leadership, which has facilitated innovations and transformations for clients such as New York-Presbyterian Hospital, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, and Egypt's New National Cancer Institute in Giza, one of the largest facilities of its kind in the world.

“E4H is honored to be a part of this landmark project for Roper St. Francis Healthcare and the community which it will serve. As a mission-driven organization focused on 100 percent healthcare design, we are dedicated to improving outcomes for patients, families, and caregivers. E4H is deeply inspired by the synergy between RSFH’s core values and our own,” said Jeremy Bartz, partner at E4H, in the release. “Starting with a systemwide strategic masterplan that will provide key insight into critical needs across the community, E4H and SOM will design a new medical campus that will set the standard for healthcare in the Lowcountry of South Carolina.”