ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — Author's note: the video above is on file from May 2021.
Sentara Healthcare started work on a new medical complex in Elizabeth City on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for the company said their Sentara Albemarle Regional Health Campus would have a medical office building, headquarters building for Pasquotank/Camden EMS and an 80-bed hospital.
The lot for their new facilities is off Halstead Extended and Thunder Road.
The office building could be ready by next year, but the hospital isn't expected to be operational until 2024.
It's meant to replace the Sentara Albemarle Medical Center on North Road Street, which the company started leasing from Pasquotank County in 2014. The building is 60 years old, according to a spokesperson.
Phillip Jackson, president of that medical center, said the new hospital would help the community "for the long haul."
"It will be an attractive place for patients to receive state-of-the-art care in their own community and to help keep our patients as healthy as they can be, so they don’t need to be in the hospital," he wrote.
The project could cost $158 million, the company estimates. A release from Sentara Healthcare said they'd be committed to hiring local businesses owned by women, minorities and veterans to help build this complex.