$150 million medical clinic planned at Air Station Beaufort. Here’s why it’s needed
Construction of a state-of-the art medical clinic is proposed on 26 acres of undeveloped forestland at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, which the base says will improve medical care for its 5,000 personnel and avert a future health-care shortage.
It’s proposed south of the main gate at the base off of U.S. Highway 21 north of Beaufort .
“We actually have a medical clinic on MCAS Beaufort,” Capt. Thomas Jones said, “but it’s outdated.”
A draft copy of an environmental assessment (EA) of the work is out and MCAS Beaufort, where fighter jets and 4,931 active duty and civilian personnel are based, is asking the public to comment on it at BFRT_JPAO@usmc.mil. An open house is planned from 4-7 p.m. April 12 at Tabby Place at the Beaufort Inn, 809 Port Republic St.
A precise cost estimate will not be available until the facility has been designed, but the rough estimate is $150 million, Jones said. That estimate could change, he noted, as construction is not expected to begin until 2027. The expected completion date is roughly 2029.
A two-story, 155,189-square-foot ambulatory care center — which is distinct from a military hospital — would provide primary care, flight medicine, dental, behavioral health, orthopedics/podiatry, physical therapy, occupational health/audiology, optometry, pharmacy, radiology, outpatient, ambulatory surgery and healthcare administration.
Jones called it “state-of-the-art.”
Five buildings that are part of the current clinic, which are in poor condition, would be demolished.
Without the new center, a space shortage for health care will occur in the future at the base, the EA says.
The center would allow for anticipated future expansion and growth and modernize outpatient care support for active-duty personnel, family members, and other eligible beneficiaries within the Beaufort military community, MCAS Beaufort says.
In 2028, the environmental assessment says, 11,885 eligible beneficiaries would be enrolled for care at the new clinic, which would require a staff of 382.
Forest would be cleared from 15 acres of the 26-acre site. The project may affect northern long-eared bats, a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, according to the draft EA, but is not likely to adversely affect them.
The project includes 323 spaces for staff parking and 237 spaces for patient parking in two separate lots.
This story was originally published April 1, 2022 at 4:55 AM.
