Novant facility at exit 23

Nov. 19. By Dave Vieser. Cornelius is becoming an increasingly attractive location for medical facilities. Just a few months after Atrium Health opened a new full-service hospital on Highway 21, its chief competitor, Novant Health, is seeking approval for two new facilities in town.

Novant is proposing a freestanding 11,400 square foot emergency room on Holiday Lane, just northeast of Exit 28 and roughly two miles from the new Atrium emergency room. A public hearing on Novant’s request for a certificate of need will be conducted by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. A hospital needs a certificate because the state regulates the growth of medical facilities to ensure need, control costs, and protect access to care.

The project is expected to cost $16.5 million and would be completed in January 2028. The hearing will be held at 10 a.m. Dec. 18 in Community Room B of the Allegra Westbrooks Regional Library, 2412 Beatties Ford Road in Charlotte. Developers have also filed conditional zoning request with the Town of Cornelius. The site was previously approved for a hotel.

Earlier this fall, Novant filed rezoning paperwork with the town to build a 20,000-square-foot freestanding urgent care and same-day surgery center on Westmoreland Road, where a daycare center was once approved. The 4.8-acre site, comprising two tax parcels, is on the north side of Westmoreland Road near the edge of the stalled Alexander Farms property and about a quarter-mile east of the Catawba Avenue intersection.

The property is vacant now but once included a private home that was demolished several years ago.