HCA has nixed plans for a medical campus in Hanover, which would have been built on a 40-acre site.
After nearly two years of regulatory wrangling to try to build a medical campus on a large site near Ashland, HCA appears to be moving on.
The health system this week informed Hanover County it would no longer seek zoning approval to develop medical facilities on 40 acres on Sliding Hill Road.
But while the campus has been nixed, HCA still wants to build a surgical center proposed as part of the project and is looking for alternative sites for the facility, according to spokesman Wes Hester.
“HCA Virginia remains committed to building an ambulatory surgery center in the region. We are not currently pursuing rezoning the property on Sliding Hill Road as we assess options for moving forward with the project,” he said in an email.
HCA didn’t comment on why it decided to pull its zoning application for the campus, which in addition to the surgical center was planned to eventually feature a hospital, among other facilities. The decision to withdraw the local zoning request followed HCA’s mixed success in lining up state approval for elements of the project.
The health system secured regulatory approval from the state health department last summer for a 20,000-square-foot surgical center at the Sliding Hill Road property. Dubbed the Middle Virginia Surgicenter, the facility was approved to have three operating rooms, which would have been relocated from Retreat Doctors’ Hospital in the Fan and Henrico Doctors’ Hospital in western Henrico.
The development plan for the Hanover campus also envisioned a freestanding emergency room that would have come as a precursor to a hospital on the campus, as well as medical office space.
A June 2024 plan showing the phased development of HCA’s now-withdrawn medical campus project in Hanover.
HCA unsuccessfully sought the state’s approval for the stand-alone ER and hospital for the Sliding Hill site last year. The initial application to the state for the hospital was filed in early 2023. In Virginia, certain medical facilities and equipment must be reviewed and approved through the state’s Certificate of Public Need program before they can be established.
The health system had sought to rezone the project site, which included 10054 Sliding Hill Road and several other parcels, to Community Business (B-2) with conditions from the land’s current Agricultural (A-1) and General Business District (B-3). The health system also filed for a conditional-use permit to allow the construction of a helipad.
HCA previously shared plans to buy the project site, which according to online land records this week was still owned by entities tied to the Pruitt family.
HCA ultimately did not go before the Hanover Planning Commission for a hearing on its proposal. The Planning Commission had been scheduled to review the project in November, but that hearing was postponed and never occurred.
In other local moves by HCA, the health system is planning to add nearly 40 surgical beds to its Chippenham Hospital in Richmond, and expects to start construction next year on a freestanding ER on Iron Bridge Road in Chesterfield.