Sitework kicks off for Beaufort Memorial Bluffton Community Medical Campus, groundbreaking later this spring

Dirt is finally moving on a $100 million Beaufort Memorial expansion project that has been seven years in the making.

The Beaufort Memorial Bluffton Community Medical Campus (BCMC for short) is in its earliest development stage, with sitework starting at the future facility’s location at the corner of Bluffton and Buckwalter Parkways in Bluffton.

Site clearing began at the beginning of February, led by construction firm M.B. Kahn, which is also tasked with the construction of the approximately 91,000 square-foot facility itself. The project will be completed in 2027, and Beaufort Memorial will hold a groundbreaking event at the Bluffton site in May.

“This project has been a long time coming, and it’s exciting to see dirt moving in Bluffton,” said Russell Baxley, Beaufort Memorial president and CEO. “The Lowcountry is a rapidly-growing region, and Bluffton residents deserve improved accessibility to high-quality, innovative, patient-first care. This is a huge step for Beaufort Memorial in delivering that care to them.”

Beaufort Memorial will provide emergency services and outpatient surgical procedures at the BCMC, as well as related services that support emergency medical care (imaging, lab, pathology, trauma). The multi-level facility will have four operating rooms, two endoscopy rooms, a cath lab, two emergency triage rooms, five fast track and 13 other emergency treatment rooms and a trauma room. A large area on the third floor is available for future expansion, with plans currently being reviewed by the S.C. Department of Health for an inpatient unit with 28 beds.

Beaufort Memorial submitted a certificate of need (CON) in 2018 for a “micro-hospital” on this site in Bluffton and battled legal opposition until pivoting last September to instead move forward on a facility that initially won’t have inpatient beds.

Within the next few months, sitework will also begin on LiveWell Terrace by BMH, a collaborative effort between Beaufort Memorial, Beaufort County and the Town of Bluffton to develop workforce housing less than a mile from the BCMC site. That project will include approximately 5,000 square feet of medical office space, as well as 125 to 150 affordable housing units of varying sizes.