Roper to buy land in Berkeley

Site in growth area could be location of future hospital

Eyeing the anticipated growth in Berkeley County, Roper St. Francis Healthcare is planning to buy a large tract of land in the Carnes Crossroads development for what could one day be the county's first full-service hospital.

Company officials are working to close a sale contract for about 66 acres of forest in Goose Creek. They don't have solid plans for most of the land, but said they will watch how the surrounding area grows before determining what kind of medical facility to build during the next 20 years, company executives told The Post and Courier on Friday.

"As we look at the population that already lives out there, and the growth, we felt like we needed to be prepared to have a significant presence in the future," said Douglas Bowling, vice president of system development.

The $8.5 million deal is expected to close in late October. At a meeting Monday night, Berkeley County council will consider granting the company permission to issue up to $10 million in tax exempt bonds to pay for the property.

The land sits north of the intersection of U.S. Highways 176 and 17A in the proposed Carnes Crossroads development, where the Daniel Island Co. plans to build up to 6,000 homes and several million square feet of commercial space during the next 15 years, said President Matt Sloan. Ground already has been broken on the first commercial buildings, and the first residents could move into their homes in 2009.

"We're excited to have Roper St. Francis be an early stakeholder in what will be a new downtown for Berkeley County," Sloan said.

The health care company plans to build a 40,000- to 60,000-square-foot medical office building right away, then will watch the county's growth to decide what to do with the remaining land.

"We're not looking at short-term development there. This is something that may be 15 or 20 years out," Bowling said.

The parcel is big enough to accommodate a new hospital, he added. The tract is 12 acres larger than Roper St. Francis' Mount Pleasant site, where officials are planning to build a $143 million, 85-bed hospital by 2010.

Goose Creek Mayor Michael Heitzler embraced the idea of a full-service hospital in the city, saying residents would be able to get emergency health care faster than if they had to battle traffic on the way to Summerville Medical Center or Trident Medical Center in North Charleston, both owned by a Roper competitor, Trident Health System.

A hospital also would help meet the health needs of more of the city's growing population, which has increased 29 percent to about 31,914 residents since 1990, according to U.S. Census Bureau numbers.

"Our demographics in the city of Goose Creek are steadily changing; we're getting more retirees and older people," Heitzler said. "It's good to know that we're going to have health services nearby for them."

If Roper St. Francis decides to build a hospital, it will face a lengthy approval process through the state's Department of Health and Environmental Control. Agency officials would have to determine that there is enough need in the area to support a new facility, a process meant to protect existing facilities, said DHEC spokesman Thom Berry.

Already, competing health care companies are beginning to lobby against the plan. In March 2006, Trident Health System bought 20 acres of land for a health care facility at Cane Bay Plantation, an 8,910-home community under construction several miles north of the Roper site off Highway 176.

"I'm perplexed that Roper St. Francis, a tax-exempt organization, is targeting their investments in a community we've committed to serve, especially when we continue to hear of unmet health care needs in the downtown Charleston area," said Terry Gunn, president and chief executive officer of Trident Health System and the Carolina market for Trident's parent company, HCA.

Trident officials are still in the "planning phase" of their project, and they say Roper's plans won't throw off theirs.

Business Editor John McDermott contributed to this report. Reach Katy Stech at 937-5549 or kstech@postandcourier.com.