Signage outside VCU Health VCU Medical Center. (Jack Jacobs photo)
Three major proposed hospital projects in Chesterfield County – two to be built from scratch and a third to expand an existing facility – have gotten the go-ahead from the commonwealth and are expected to move forward.
State Health Commissioner B. Cameron Webb has approved proposals by competitors VCU Health, Bon Secours and HCA to bring additional hospital beds to Chesterfield.
VCU Health wants to build a 66-bed hospital near the Chesterfield government complex. Bon Secours intends to add 40 acute-care beds to its existing St. Francis Medical Center near Brandermill. HCA wants to construct a 60-bed hospital near Moseley. Together, the projects amount to an investment of approximately $672 million.
The VCU Health project at 7220 Beach Road would include 42 medical/surgical beds, six pediatric beds, six obstetric beds and 12 ICU beds. Facilities at the new hospital would include six general-purpose operating rooms, a CT scanner, an MRI scanner, a cardiac catheterization lab and intermediate-level nursery services.
In a prepared statement on Tuesday, VCU Health said the OK from the state was evidence of the need of its proposed hospital, which is in the early stages of development.
“We are thrilled that we have received Certificate of Public Need (COPN) approval from the Virginia Department of Health for our Chesterfield Hospital. The approval recognizes the merits of our application and the positive impact that VCU Health System provides throughout the Commonwealth. We are taking steps to begin the design and planning process and are excited about expanding access to our unwavering care in Chesterfield County,” VCU Health spokeswoman Danielle Pierce said in an email.
The VCU Health hospital has an anticipated cost of $306 million and is expected to be completed by late May 2030.
VCU Health would fund the new 203,000-square-foot hospital using a 50-50 split of reserves and bond financing.
It would be the health system’s first hospital in Chesterfield, and would rise next to an under-construction, $90 million medical office building and ambulatory surgery center. VCU Health held a topping-out ceremony for that 100,000-square-foot project in early March, ahead of an anticipated 2027 opening date.
A layout plan of the proposed Magnolia Hospital project in Chesterfield. (Courtesy HCA)
HCA’s Chesterfield hospital is anticipated to cost $260 million. Dubbed Magnolia Hospital, the 135,300-square-foot facility would feature 54 medical/surgical beds and six ICU beds. There would be four general-purpose operating rooms, an MRI scanner and a CT scanner at the facility.
The new hospital would be outfitted with equipment relocated from other HCA facilities in the region. The beds would be relocated from Retreat Doctors’ Hospital in Richmond, as would one operating room. Three operating rooms would be moved from Johnston-Willis, and the CT scanner would be sourced from Swift Creek ER, which would be closed when the hospital opens, according to HCA’s project application.
The hospital is slated to be built by mid-October 2029 and funded with HCA’s own internal resources. Magnolia Hospital would be part of the 200-acre Nunnally Village project, a proposed mixed-use development that would be built at the intersection of Otterdale and Hull Street roads.
HCA didn’t respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Bon Secours expansion of St. Francis is expected to cost $106 million. The hospital at 13170 St. Francis Blvd. would be expanded with 36 medical/surgical beds and four ICU beds, which would bring the hospital to a total of 225 licensed beds, per the approval letter.
The new beds would be housed in a 58,400-square-foot, two-story addition that is expected to be completed by mid-September 2029, according to the application filed by Bon Secours, which stated it would fund the project through reserves.
Bon Secours called the upcoming project a key expansion of its long-running Chesterfield-based hospital that seeks to keep up with the county’s population growth.
“This approval represents an important step as we continue planning to support access to care, advance health equity, and responsibly respond to the growing health care needs of Chesterfield County – one of the fastest‑growing regions in Virginia – and the surrounding communities that St. Francis Medical Center has served for more than two decades,” a Bon Secours spokesperson said in an email.
The upcoming St. Francis project follows a $108 million expansion that added 55 acute-care beds to the hospital a couple years ago. Bon Secours is also under construction on a 90,000-square-foot medical office building and surgical center to expand the St. Francis campus, and the new facility is expected to open later this year.
An aerial photo of Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center in Chesterfield. (Courtesy Bon Secours)
The three hospital projects were pitched by the competing health systems to capitalize on population growth in Chesterfield, which is one of Virginia’s fastest-growing localities and where much of the Richmond metro region’s population growth is anticipated.
Chesterfield had an estimated population of about 401,300 people in July 2025, a 10% increase from 364,500 residents in April 2020, according to data from UVA’s Weldon Cooper Center.
The projects were reviewed under the state’s Certificate of Public Need, or COPN program. Virginia regulates hospitals and other medical facilities through the program, which is intended to ensure a public need for medical facilities that are subject to the review, contain healthcare costs and additionally ensure patient access and the projects’ financial viability.
Webb, the state health commissioner, wrote in his approval notices that the health systems had demonstrated a need for their respective projects and noted the projects had “considerable community support” in his March 13 approval letters issued for each project.
For the HCA project, Webb endorsed the relocation of existing beds to the Chesterfield site to improve the distribution of hospital beds in the region. Webb wrote in his letter to VCU Health that its project would support the health system’s academic mission with new facilities for training and research.
The state health commissioner’s decision mostly mirrored Virginia Department of Health staff recommendations issued in the fall. While staff recommended the projects proposed by VCU Health and Bon Secours, the HCA proposal was recommended for denial.
This story has been updated. Previously reported project investment figures included an error in a VDH document, and have been corrected.
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