BREAKING: 4-year med school headed to Dilworth
RENDERINGS: Get a glimpse of what the Wake Forest School of Medicine's Charlotte campus will look like; To be at McDowell and Morehead streets near Dilworth Neighborhood Grille
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New ‘Wake Forest School of Medicine’ 2nd campus to be on 20-acre site at McDowell and Morehead streets; ‘transformational’ project for Charlotte
Renderings of planned Wake Forest School of Medicine—Charlotte. It will be on a 20-acre site near McDowell and Morehead streets in Dilworth, Atrium CEO Gene Woods said this morning.
by Tony Mecia
Atrium Health and Wake Forest Baptist Health plan to build their medical school along Morehead Street in Dilworth, a move expected to draw more development to the area — including the possibility of new labs, research facilities and office buildings.
And they released fancy new drawings of just what those buildings might look like:
Officials said construction would begin early next year and that the first students would be seated in 2024.
In a news conference, Atrium CEO Gene Woods described the new medical school campus in Charlotte as part of the company’s commitment to improve healthcare in the communities it serves, and he announced a $10M scholarship fund that would allow “our black and brown brothers and sisters” to pursue careers in health sciences.
He played a video featuring Mayor Vi Lyles, U.S. Rep. Alma Adams, county commission chairman George Dunlap and Gov. Roy Cooper heaping praise on Atrium and the medical school and predicting it would have a profound effect on health and the economy.
“This is a place where excellence lives and excellence is learned,” Woods said. He said “just seeing these artistic renderings gets me fired up.”
The announcement Tuesday confirms The Ledger’s reporting from November and December that suggested that Atrium would locate the medical school at that site. Woods said at the news conference that the location was a 20-acre site at Baxter and McDowell streets. He described the location as “the heart of Midtown.” It’s across the street from Covenant Presbyterian Church.
The Ledger had reported that Beacon Partners sold 5 parcels (1,2,3,4,5) totaling 7.6 acres along Morehead Street in Dilworth for $44M. The buyer was not publicly identified, but its law firm, Robinson Bradshaw, is the same firm used by Atrium. Real estate sources and a source close to the hospital confirmed the report.
The land is between Baxter and Morehead streets near McDowell Street, close to Dilworth Neighborhood Grille and across from Covenant Presbyterian Church, and contains mostly office buildings built in the 1980s.
Most of the companies in the office buildings are small businesses such as law firms. Asked this week about the possibility of moving, one of the businesses, Fresenius Kidney Care, told The Ledger in a statement: “Fresenius Kidney Care is committed to providing high-quality, personalized care, and life-sustaining dialysis treatment to all of our patients. Our Baxter Street location is continuing operations with no immediate changes planned. We will provide timely and transparent communication about all aspects of their care if any changes are to take place in the future.”
A law firm in one of the building, Crumley Roberts, said its lease expires in March 2023 and “we have no plans to relocate to a new Charlotte location at this time.”
Two years in the making: Atrium first said in 2019 that it was in talks to start a medical school in Charlotte in partnership with Wake Forest Baptist Health of Winston-Salem.
In October, the companies announced they had completed their merger and planned to open a medical school campus in Charlotte, though they did not identify a location.
Business leaders have said this med school is a big, big deal:
Last year, Atrium released a statement from former Bank of America CEO Hugh McColl saying: “This new School of Medicine and Innovation District will be the most transformative initiative in the history of Charlotte.”
At a City Council committee meeting this week, Michael Smith of Charlotte Center City Partners said: “This new Atrium-Wake Forest medical school is going to increase our access to healthcare. It’s going to provide tons and tons of jobs, clinical research teams, more national labs money, bio-entrepreneurs, strengthening our healthcare industry and growing a new sector of our economy even further.”
Atrium CEO Gene Woods said he envisioned a “Silicon Valley for healthcare innovation” that spans from Winston-Salem to Charlotte, in which “physicians, inventors, scientists and visionaries will be able to collaborate on new technologies, techniques and treatments that make lives better in North Carolina, in Georgia, throughout the Southeast and the nation.”
Last year, The Ledger reported that “the main upside would be what an academic medical center could do to transform Charlotte’s economy and beef up our street cred as a research center.”
A medical school is also likely to lead to more early-stage medical tech companies here — companies that build medical devices, discover new drugs, create new diagnostic technologies and associated medical tech firms.
A lot of those are going to want to congregate near the medical school, which is expected to increase development in the already busy Dilworth and Midtown areas.
Atrium real estate takeover: The medical school would be the latest Atrium development moving toward the uptown area. Work is nearly complete on a couple buildings on Kenilworth Avenue being developed by Pappas Properties, including the Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute.
Neighbors in Dilworth have sometimes had a love-hate relationship with Atrium on the issue of its constant growth and expansion. But neighborhood leaders have said they welcome the news about the site of the medical school.
Asked about the prospect for the medical school in Dilworth, Valerie Preston, president of the Dilworth Community Association, told The Ledger late last year: “We are very pleased with the news. A medical school would be a positive addition to our area and a great benefit to Charlotte.” She said she looks forward to working with Atrium on the project. The land would require a rezoning to build a medical school there.
Related Ledger articles:
“What a med school means for Charlotte.” (Oct. 12, 2020)
“Big mystery land sale in Dilworth. Could it be for a med school?” (🔒) (Nov. 4, 2020, at the bottom)
“Emails: Dubois and UNCC administrators were surprised by Atrium-Wake med school plans – “Whaaaaa?!?!” (June 19, 2019, second item)
View from Morehead Street of the medical school corridor, about 3/4 of a mile from Carolinas Medical Center.
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Reporting intern: David Griffith