Coca-Cola Consolidated to donate $25M to NC Children’s Hospital | Eastern NC Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the Carolina Journal. The author of this post is Katherine Zehnder.

    On Jan. 15, Coca-Cola Consolidated, headquartered in Charlotte, announced a donation of $25 million to fund the join Duke and UNC children's hospital project, as the North Carolina Senate seeks to secure $103.5 million in state funding as well.

    "At Coca-Cola Consolidated, serving others is at the heart of our purpose," Morgan Everett, vice chair of Coca-Cola Consolidated's board of directors, said in a press release. "We are honored to collaborate with NC Children's to establish a state-of-the-art hospital dedicated to delivering comprehensive care to children in need - both within our community and beyond."

    The Duke-UNC partnership was announced in early 2025, and the 500-bed facility will be based in Apex. The hospital would be the first of its kind in the state, serving as the flagship hospital - comparable, clinically and academically, to top children's hospitals in the country.


    "We are deeply grateful to the entire Coca-Cola Consolidated family for this wonderful gift," Dr. Wesley Burks, chair of the NC Children's board of directors, said in the press release. "Their partnership will change children's lives by allowing NC Children's to build and expand behavioral health programs across the full continuum of care - from prevention and outpatient services to intensive outpatient, partial hospitalization, and inpatient treatment - establishing a world-class model for children's and adolescents' behavioral health."

    Construction is slated to begin in 2027 on a new hospital planned for approximately 230 acres at the intersection of US-1 and NC-540. The hospital is projected to create around 8,000 jobs in Apex and Wake County. It will feature a children's outpatient care center, 103 beds dedicated to children's and adolescent behavioral health, and a research and education hub supported by both UNC and Duke schools of medicine. The facility is expected to open in the early 2030s.

    In addition to funding from Coke Consolidated, state budget appropriations will also support the program. The Healthcare Investment Act (HB 562) includes funding for the NC Children's Hospital, which was outlined in the 2023-25 state budget, according to a press release. Nearly $320 million was approved by both the House and the Senate over three fiscal years. This releases $103.5 million, fulfilling the third-year obligation.

    "The Senate believes the previously approved commitments for NC Children's and NC Care should be upheld," Lauren Horsch, press secretary for NC Senate Leader Phil Berger, said in a statement. "The funding for NC Care supports vital rural healthcare initiatives. That is why, as negotiations for the healthcare mini-budgets have progressed, budget writers have been pushing for the final tranche of funding - $103.5 million for NC Children's and $105 million for NC Care - to be released. The Senate has made multiple offers to release those funds, but the House has thus far been unwilling to accept our offers. Additional funding for NC Children's beyond the previously approved amounts would be part of a broader budget negotiation."

    In October of 2025, the Senate sent the House a proposal that included the Medicaid rebase in SB 449. The Medicaid rebase funding included $51.8 million for the NC Children's Hospital, which is half of the $103.5 million appropriated in the 2023 budget, according to a press release. The House rejected this proposal. The third year $103.5 million in funding appropriated in the 2023 budget has yet to be secured.


    "House leaders are generally skeptical of new capital projects in light of current fiscal projections," Demi Dowdy, deputy chief of staff for communications and external affairs for Speaker of the House Destin Hall, told the Carolina Journal. "This project in particular would require roughly a billion dollars in state capital, something that is simply untenable."