A $100 million gift moves North Carolina's first standalone children's hospital forward

North Carolina Children's announced a $100 million grant from The Duke Endowment on October 20, 2026, WRAL reported. The money supports a planned campus in Apex that leaders call the state's first standalone children's hospital. The design calls for a 500-bed children's hospital, a behavioral health hospital, and a surgical center, aimed at the early 2030s. The point, pediatricians told the station, is care that existing pediatric units in general hospitals have not had the beds or specialty services to provide, so thousands of sick children are transferred inside the state or out of it.

The campus is not open, and it is not funded in full. UNC Health and Duke Health, the partners, still describe a project of about $3 billion. The state is in for $425 million, and each health system for $500 million. In January, Coca-Cola Consolidated pledged $25 million. The universities hope to break ground in 2027, with construction of about six years, inside the Veridea development between U.S. 1 and Interstate 540. A Wake Tech campus focused on children with complex medical or behavioral-health needs is planned beside it. The grant is a large step toward a hospital that does not exist yet. It is not a bed that a child can use this week.