The Augusta University Health board of directors has selected two firms to begin designing the long-awaited hospital to be built in Columbia County.
Washington, D.C. based SmithGroup and TVS, headquartered in Atlanta, will collaborate on the two story, 260,000-square foot hospital. It will be built on 82 acres near Interstate 20 in Grovetown.
MORE: Decision Made on Columbia County Hospital Development
“We are building this hospital for generations. Architect selection is a cornerstone of creating a hospital that will make Columbia County proud,” said AU Health CEO Katrina Keefer. “This is a generational investment in Columbia County and we look forward to the campus being a place of healing for our community.”
The planned 100-bed hospital has a $150 million price tag. It is expected to include an 18-bed emergency department, a level II trauma center, 24 intensive care rooms, 76 medical-surgical beds and six operating rooms.
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The team will be led by Cindy Beckham of SmithGroup.
“We look forward to developing an innovative design for the Augusta University Health campus that will deliver highly specialized care to Columbia County in an exceptional setting,” said Beckham.
SmithGroup is well versed in Augusta and the university. The firm designed the master plan for what is now the health sciences campus.
MORE: First Steps to Building a Hospital in Columbia County
The effort to build a hospital in Columbia County began in 2014 when AU Health was granted a Certificate of Need by the Georgia Department of Community Health.
University Hospital and Doctors Hospital had also applied for the Certificate of Need and appealed the decision to grant it to AU Health.
Ultimately, University Hospital dropped its appeal, but Doctors Hospital continued.
The dispute went all the way to the Georgia Supreme Court. It ended in early June 2021 when that court decided not to review a ruling by the Georgia Court of Appeals upholding the CON granted to AU Health.
Doctors Hospital had asked the state Supreme Court to review that decision.
The hospital is expected to open sometime in 2025.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
