The facility, called “N.C. Children’s,” was characterized as a “decade-long goal” for both institutions and is expected to lessen the strain on other regional facilities amid increased demand for care.

Duke Health and UNC Health are creating a new nonprofit, N.C. Children’s, to build and operate the 500-bed hospital. A site has not yet been chosen but is expected to be announced this summer. It will involve a campus of at least 100 acres with a children’s outpatient center and a children’s behavioral health hospital.

Two North Carolina-based university health systems have announced an agreement to construct the state’s first standalone children’s hospital.