GREENSBORO, N.C. — A local development company is planning an estimated $90 million project on the site of the former Cone Health Women's Hospital on Green Valley Road in Greensboro.
Officials with Deep River Partners said the new development on the 12-acre site will include 300 multi-unit family apartments, two restaurants, and green space. The area includes several businesses, including Print Works, Proximity Hotel and Green Valley Grill.
"This is a really unique site," said Steve Shavitz, a partner with Deep River Partners. "You just don’t get acreage tracks that size in the middle of an existing development like this that often and so we are fortunate that we were able to do something like this with it."
Shavitz said the project has been in the works for several years but was put on hold because of the pandemic when Cone Health reopened the facility as a COVID-19 hospital. The deal with Deep River Partners was finalized in September 2021.
The hospital opened as Greensboro Hospital in 1977. Cone Health purchased the facility in 1990 as The Women’s Hospital of Greensboro. More than 150,000 babies were born at the hospital. In 2020, those services moved to the Women’s and Children’s Center at Moses Cone Hospital. When the pandemic began, Cone Health reopened the building as a COVID-19-specific hospital. Demolition on the site began in early 2022.
Construction on the new project is expected to start in spring 2023 and is expected to take 18-24 months, according to Shavitz.
"I think what you were going to see off of Green Valley (Road) is such a compliment from Friendly Shopping Center leading into Lawndale and, quite frankly, it also can help downtown as well," said Zack Matheny, District 3 Greensboro City Council member.
Matheny said that area of Greensboro is in need of more housing and this will be a great addition. The Greensboro Chamber of Commerce said it's another sign of positive growth in the Gate City.
"I'm really excited about opportunities for more housing and more retail opportunities because as this community grows we are going to need more of that," said Brent Christensen, the President and CEO of the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce.
Former Cone Mills White Oak Plant
The site of the former Cone Mills White Oak Facility is getting new life, according to leaders with the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce.
The Chamber held its "State of Greensboro" luncheon Wednesday, celebrating growth in Greensboro and Guilford County. Chamber President and CEO Brent Christensen said the White Oak Legacy Foundation is working on the former site, doing small-scale denim production. The plant was shut down in 2017 and torn down in 2019.
"(The White Oak Legacy Foundation is) partnering with a company (Beximco) out of Bangladesh to do some really innovative things around being able to take a product from a designer‘s head to finished product in about eight hours in a really environmentally sustainable way," said Christensen.
The facility will feature a "Smartlab" that "will move product ideas from fabric development/production/selection to garment design and prototyping, small bath garment manufacturing, high tech garment treatment and finishing featuring the latest in high technology applications and sustainable practices.