Roper St. Francis breaks ground on future hospital campus

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD)– Roper St. Francis is working to give more people access to healthcare in the Lowcountry.

Officials broke ground on their future campus off Interstate 26 and 526 near Mall Drive.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, Roper St. Francis officials spoke about bringing the future of healthcare to the metropolitan North Charleston area, the third largest city in South Carolina.

The new Roper St. Francis will feature a 24-hour emergency room department, state of the art operating rooms, inpatient units, enhanced security systems and more.

“Not only are we celebrating the movement up to the center of the population of the Charleston region but we’re putting in a building that’s going to be around for over a century,” said Joseph Deleon, CEO and President of Roper St Francis Healthcare.

The project is expected to have a 2.5-billion-dollar economic impact and generate 3600 construction-related jobs. Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette promises more healthcare jobs in the stat

“With beautiful structures like this coming up, we know it becomes critical to have a well-trained workforce,” said Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette. “My pledge to you is we will continue to strive to create more nurses, more doctors, more healthcare workers so that in all the jobs we’re opening we have a workforce ready for you.”

Nurse, physicians and frontline care team members spent over 500 hours working with architects in hands on sessions to better the design for the facility, which includes everything from supply cabinets to electrical outlet placement.

“When they have the opportunity to provide input where the walls and outlets and pieces of equipment will be you get a much better product,” said Deleon.

Roper St. Francis will transition their team at their current location in downtown Charleston to North Charleston.

In 2024, MUSC’s board voted to purchase the downtown Roper building. However, the transaction will not be finalized until Roper relocates to North Charleston.

Construction is expected to be finished in 2029.