WORK SET TO BEGIN ON $390 MILLION CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP/WCIV) — Hospital officials, dignitaries and patients are scheduled to gather in Charleston to break ground on a new $390 million hospital at the Medical University of South Carolina.
The university announced that groundbreaking ceremonies are set for Friday for the Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital and Pearl Tourville Women’s Pavilion.
The children’s hospital is named in honor of Shawn Jenkins, a founder and CEO of the Benefitfocus company. He earlier pledged $25 million to the project.
Representative Mark Sanford was also in attendance.
“I can’t begin to imagine what the families and loved ones of those who come to MUSC Children’s Hospital must be going through,” he said. “Today’s ceremony brought comfort in knowing that, within this city, we are constructing a facility that will provide these families a hospital with the most modern of advances. In all this, the generosity of the Jenkins family and others is incredibly touching.”
The new hospital is expected to open in 2019 and will replace the existing, 30-year-old MUSC Children’s Hospital.
The university is raising $125 million from the public for the project. It has reached about $100 million of that goal.