Construction on New Hanover Regional Medical Center’s new Cardiology Outpatient Clinic could begin this summer, according an architect overseeing the project.

Danny Adams, senior associate project manager with the Wilmington division of LS3P Associates, told technical review committee staff members Thursday that officials overseeing the project want to go vertical on the new clinic in August.

The planned facility is set to rise on more than 8 acres of property at 1415 Physicians Drive near the sprawling medical campus.

The project is being designed by LS3P Associates and engineered by McKim & Creed, which also operates a division in the Port City. Charlotte-based Rodgers Builders will construct the facility, which is scheduled to take 11 months to complete.

Granted the project meets all permitting and city guidelines, Adams said crews hope to begin clearing the site for the development in June.

Plans call for the complex to be developed in phases.

The first phase would include the construction of a three-story, 62,300-square-foot medical building that would house the Cape Fear Heart Associates, which is part of the New Hanover Regional Medical Center Physician Group, said NHRMC spokewoman Erin Balzotti.

The new clinic will also house the practice’s imaging services division and will boast 48 exam rooms as well as various office, classroom and break room space.

A new 17,000-square-foot hospitality house, with 24 rooms and shared kitchen and living room space, is also planned for the site as part of the first phase development. The new facility will be named the SECU Family House at New Hanover Regional Medical Center after the Raleigh-based financial firm donated $2 million toward the project as part of its Challenge Grant with the NHRMC Foundation, Balzotti said. 

Once completed, the Family House will replace the hospital’s existing hospitality house on Medical Center Drive.

The second phase, which would be built pending demand, would consist of a roughly three-story, 40,000-square-foot building on the site.