New Atrium Hospital rendering | Atrium
Feb. 13. By Dave Vieser. There’s progress on the new Atrium hospital planned for Cornelius, both on the ground and at Town Hall. Here’s where the project stands as of Monday Feb. 13:
At the site
There has been some land cleared recently at the future hospital’s site west of Statesville Road/Hwy. 21 just south of the Bailey Road intersection. Even though the rezoning has not yet been approved by the town, the applicant has received approval from the county to begin relocating some utilities at the site. This is not uncommon according to Deputy Town Manager Wayne Herron. “Atrium has pre-grading approval to move utilities. Most folks know it is a risk that you may not get approved, but they are more willing to take on the risk,” Herron said.
The official groundbreaking is expected to occur in late May.
Meetings at Town Hall
The Cornelius Planning Board will conduct a public hearing on Monday Feb. 13 to consider the rezoning application. If it is approved, the proposal will then go before the Town Board on Monday March 6. In between the two hearings, the town’s Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) will review the projects Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) at their Tuesday February 21 meeting.The February 13 Planning Board Meeting begins at 6:30 pm and will be streamed live on the towns web site.www.Cornelius.org. The TAB meeting on Feb. 21 will not be live streamed but is open to the public. The TAB meeting begins at 6 pm in Room 217 at Town Hall.
The plans for the site
The $150 million hospital will contain 38 beds. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority plans call for a hospital containing 282,000 square feet with a maximum height of six stories, or 120 feet. Accompanying the hospital will be several medical office buildings and associated accessory facilities totaling approximately 90,000 square feet.
A second phase will be added at a later date and would contain approximately 100 additional beds, if approved by the state.
The property is the former Cook family farm which sold for $34 million to an Arizona developer in 2006, before the real estate collapse.
