WakeMed says Atrium deal would modernize aging Raleigh campus

WakeMed’s aging flagship campus on New Bern Avenue needs more than patchwork fixes, and the proposed Atrium Health combination would help pay for a rebuild of the hospital spaces patients use most. The Raleigh Campus, opened in 1961 at 3000 New Bern Avenue, remains Wake County’s only Level 1 trauma center and one of the region’s most heavily used hospital sites.

The pressure points are the parts patients rarely see until they need them most: intensive care units, operating rooms and the emergency department. Those areas are outdated and need to be replaced, not just repaired. The health system’s plan calls for a larger emergency department and modern operating rooms and ICUs on the Raleigh campus, where it also houses its children’s hospital.

WakeMed is a 973-bed private, not-for-profit health care system based in Raleigh, and its FY2025 statistical highlights show 354,362 emergency visits, 71,257 discharges, 10,475 births and 6,606 trauma patients systemwide. In Wake County, the population reached 1,257,235 as of July 1, 2025 and is growing by about 66 people a day.

The planned combination, announced May 6-7, would bring a $2 billion investment in Wake County and create more than 3,300 new health care jobs. The system says that money would also support additional inpatient beds and services at WakeMed Cary Hospital and WakeMed North Hospital, plus two new Healthplex locations with stand-alone emergency departments and development at the WakeMed Garner Whole Health Campus.

Those changes would reach beyond the Raleigh campus. WakeMed describes Cary Hospital as the only full-service hospital in Cary, and North Hospital as a 61-bed hospital in northern Wake County. Cary Hospital already has nationally accredited echocardiogram, stress and vascular labs, and its emergency department is tied to Wake County’s only Level 1 trauma center.