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Novant Health has broken ground on a new healthcare campus in Dorchester County, South Carolina, that will include a medical office building and a freestanding emergency department.

The development consists of a 32,000-square-foot medical office building, which will house primary care and specialty services. An adjacent 11,000-square-foot emergency department will include 10 exam rooms, one trauma room, a triage bay, and on-site diagnostic services such as CT, ultrasound and X-ray imaging, as well as a laboratory to support faster clinical decision-making.

“Our Lowcountry communities are growing quickly, and Novant Health is here to grow right alongside the people who need us,” said Kirsten Royster, president of Novant Health’s Charleston area. “Novant Health Summers Corner represents our ongoing commitment to make remarkable care more accessible, ensuring families can find the primary, specialty and emergency services they need, right where they live.” This project is part of the Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based health system’s broader expansion in the Lowcountry. Earlier this year, Novant Health began construction on the Center for Women’s Health at East Cooper Medical Center in Mount Pleasant and a freestanding emergency department on Daniel Island.

The company is also continuing to expand its statewide primary care network, with additional clinics and providers being added across South Carolina.

“Our facilities are designed around patient convenience and clinical excellence,” said Robert Harrington, M.D., physician executive for Novant Health’s South Carolina Region. “Whether someone needs same-day primary or specialty care, or immediate attention for an emergency, our teams will be equipped to deliver the highest quality care close to home.”

The project is located in the Summers Corner community and is expected to open in late 2026.

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - People in Dorchester County will soon have more access to medical care, including a new emergency room.

Novant Health hosted a groundbreaking on Tuesday morning for their new medical office building and freestanding emergency department in the Summer‘s Corner community.

The new campus will include a 32,000 square-foot medical office building offering primary care and special services. There will also be an 11,000 square-foot emergency department with 10 exam rooms, a trauma room, a triage bay and advanced imaging services.

Patients will also benefit from the new laboratory, which is expected to help speed up the process of important care decisions.

Aside from medical care, the additions will also provide new job opportunities for the rapidly expanding community.

“More people are relocating here. It’s good to have that state-of-the-art emergency room so there’s less transport time, so they can get some care from emergency physicians,” Port City Ambulance Services Operations Director Ryan Brooks said.

The development will bring care closer to home for patients in Dorchester County in the surrounding area.

“We know that can not only save lives when there’s an emergency, but also you’re healthier when your primary care and your specialty doctors are close by to where you live and work and so we’re really excited to bring this convenience to Summer’s Corner,” Novant Health Charleston Market President Kirsten Royster said.

“Novant Health Summer’s Corner is expected to open in late 2026.

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Novant broke ground on two other Lowcountry facilities in 2025, including the Center for Women’s Health at East Cooper Medical Center in Mount Pleasant and the freestanding emergency department on Daniel Island.

CHARLESTON — Lawmakers have approved Santee Cooper's request to take on up to $570 million in new debt that has fueled a second rate hike this year for customers of the utility.

The S.C. Joint Bond Review Committee gave the financing plan the go-ahead on Oct. 7 in Columbia.

The debt will cover more than $562 million in unbudgeted costs that the state-owned power provider incurred during a nearly five-year rate freeze on its electric bills.

Customers will pay off the bonds over the next decade through the latest increase, which works out to about $5 a month for a household using 1,000 kilowatts.

Santee Cooper, which hasn't yet issued the debt, began collecting the money in July, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

S.C. Rep. Heather Ammons Crawford, R-Horry County, lives in an area served directly by Santee Cooper. She asked the utility to "clarify" the size of its new rate increase.

“I’ve heard 3 percent, I've heard 2 percent, I've heard no more than 4 percent," Crawford said.

Suzanne Ritter, treasurer and director of financial planning for the power provider, said it's "slightly less than 4 percent."

“And that percentage actually goes down a little bit over time," Ritter said.

In April, the Moncks Corner-based utility raised its power rates by 8.7 percent for residential customers.

The second increase is tied to several years of back-and-forth with Central Electric Power Cooperative — Santee Cooper's largest customer — and lawyers who filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of ratepayers eight years ago.

The litigation followed the utility's decision to abandon the expansion of the V.C. Summer nuclear plant in mid-2017 after sinking several billion dollars into the failed project.

Santee Cooper agreed not to increase rates from 2020 through 2024 under a separate lawsuit settlement, but it was allowed to recoup "just and reasonable" unexpected costs incurred during the lockdown. They included expenses associated with natural disasters, new government regulations and other unplanned events.

Some of the claims were challenged by ratepayers and Central Electric, which represents 15 small cooperatives around the state that get their power from Santee Cooper.

They reached a settlement earlier this year. Among other terms, the utility agreed not to pass along unplanned costs totaling $155 million to customers.

Santee Cooper said surging fuel bills at its power plants were the primary reason expenses spiked during the rate freeze. The main culprits were Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which caused natural gas prices to jump in 2022, and a fire that shut down a mine that supplied coal to the utility.

Santee Cooper generates power for about 2 million South Carolina residents, either directly or indirectly. It also serves 27 large industrial businesses and other commercial customers.