A large, new medical building is coming to Beaufort. What it could mean for patients
Just down the street from their Beaufort clinic, the staff of Retina Consultants of Charleston gathered on a recently cleared lot that will become their new 14,000 square-foot home.
The eye specialists will occupy the top floor of the new space at 1181 Ribaut Road and seek to lease the first floor to other medical specialists. The expansion will allow the doctors to participate in clinical trials and treat patients for a variety of diseases, Dr. Eric Jablon said.
There is a clinical trial center in Charleston but none between Charleston and Florida that offer the same type of trials planned in Beaufort, Jablon said. The FDA-approved trials would target diseases such as macular degeneration and diabetic retinothapy.
“Oftentimes even if they would be eligible, it’s not either geographically or financially feasible for them to get that kind of care,” Jablon said after a ground-breaking ceremony for the building Wednesday morning. “So here patients not just from Beaufort but from our region here will be able to get the same treatments they would if they were going to Harvard or John Hopkins or anywhere else.”
The corridor along Ribaut Road where the new building will rise is home to numerous other medical offices, a fire station and bowling alley. The lot backs up to Beaufort’s established Spanish Point neighborhood, which includes some homes that overlook the Beaufort River.
Other projects have recently broken ground nearby, including a senior living facility at Ribaut Road and First Boulevard, and work is starting on a 60-unit apartment complex just down the road at Pine Court.
Hundreds more apartments are also planned on Ribaut Road as part of a development across from Beaufort Memorial Hospital, which recently completed a $3 million renovation to its birthing center.
Farther south in Port Royal, Beaufort Eye Center is building a large addition to its offices on Ribaut Road.
In the new medical building, Retina Consultants will hire a retina surgeon and a staff dedicated to the clinical trials. The practice has been in Beaufort 20 years and has other offices in Charleston, Lake City, Walterboro, Mount Pleasant, Ladson and Orangeburg.
Growing healthcare in the area was identified as among the priorities during focus-group meetings earlier this year to imagine the future of Beaufort, Mayor Billy Keyserling said during the ground-breaking ceremony.
“If we keep the businesses here and they grow, all the better,” he said.
This story was originally published July 24, 2019 at 2:44 PM.
