Centra Health’s Care Tower Takes Shape
By: Charlotte Farley | Photos Courtesy: Centra
Across the country, healthcare systems are grappling with the same pressures: aging facilities, rising patient volumes, and growing expectations for integrated, patient-centered care. In Lynchburg, Centra Health is responding with a major infrastructure investment that leaders say is designed to modernize care delivery while positioning the region for long-term health and wellness needs.
For a region facing growing healthcare demand and aging infrastructure, the project represents one of the largest healthcare investments Lynchburg has seen in decades.
Centra has begun construction on a six-story care tower at Lynchburg General Hospital as part of a multi-year modernization plan first announced in March 2023. The project broke ground on September 18, 2025.
The new tower is intended to address immediate operational challenges while also supporting longer-term community health needs through consolidated services, modernized care environments, and expanded access to critical services.
The tower is being built on the Lynchburg General Hospital campus on Tate Springs Road, where the hospital has served the community for nearly 70 years.
Why a New Tower
According to Centra, the choice to construct a new tower rather than renovate existing facilities followed an extensive analysis of current needs, future demand, and evolving standards in healthcare delivery.
Some of Centra’s existing hospital buildings date back more than a century, the health system said, and no longer fully support modern technology, efficient workflows, or patient-centered care models. Renovation alone would not resolve challenges such as fragmented services across multiple campuses, duplicated processes, or space constraints.
Building a new tower allows Centra to consolidate care, integrate advanced technology, and create flexible spaces designed to adapt as healthcare needs change, according to the organization. Centra noted that the need for the project was driven more by the limitations of existing design than by overall capacity shortages.
Expanding Emergency Care
A major component of the new tower is a significantly expanded emergency department, an area where Centra says growth in patient volume has placed increasing strain on existing facilities.
The new emergency department will include more than 70 treatment spaces and employ a split-flow model that directs patients based on the severity of their conditions, allowing those with less acute needs to be treated more efficiently.
The department will also integrate psychiatric care through an EmPATH unit, a specialized model designed to provide more appropriate and timely care for patients experiencing behavioral health crises. Centra said this integration is expected to help reduce emergency department bottlenecks while ensuring patients receive care suited to their needs.
Women’s & Children’s Services
The care tower will also become the new hub for women’s and children’s services, consolidating care that has historically been provided at Virginia Baptist Hospital into the Lynchburg General campus. The tower will include a new labor and delivery unit as well as an intensive care nursery, expanding Centra’s ability to care for mothers and newborns requiring higher-acuity services.
New Capabilities & Care Models
Beyond expanded square footage, Centra said the new tower enables care models and capabilities that are difficult—or impossible—to fully implement in its existing facilities.
These include a larger emergency department with integrated psychiatric services, 12 modern operating rooms with advanced post-operative recovery areas, a new labor and delivery unit, and an intensive care nursery. Together, these updates are intended to support more efficient, higher-acuity, and more integrated care.
Centra said the tower’s design emphasizes patient-centered principles, including improved privacy, safer room layouts, centralized services to simplify navigation, and technology-enabled spaces that support clinical workflows.
Timeline & Economic Impact
Construction on the tower is expected to take approximately three years, with Centra projecting completion in fall 2028.
During construction, the project is expected to sustain more than 2,500 trade-related jobs and generate approximately $140 million in local investment, according to Centra.
In the long term, the new facility is intended to support workforce needs and accommodate growing demand driven by an aging population and rising patient volumes.
The tower is designed to bring more services under one roof, modernize care environments, and create space that can adapt as healthcare delivery continues to evolve.
