OrthoCarolina plans to build a new, wholly owned orthopedic ambulatory surgery center in Steele Creek. The physician group plans to begin construction before the end of 2026, with the 15,000-square-foot facility expected to open toward the end of 2027.
According to Charlotte Business Journal, OrthoCarolina plans a new outpatient orthopedic facility in Steele Creek. The center will have four operating rooms. Dr. Leo Spector is OrthoCarolina's CEO.
The new project adds to OrthoCarolina's regional surgery center network, which includes Mallard Creek Surgery Center and a Matthews ambulatory surgery center, the same report notes. The facility is intended to expand access in a fast-growing area.
A Broader Expansion Across Mecklenburg County
Steele Creek is just one piece of a larger buildout. OrthoCarolina announced in May 2026 a plan to grow its total regional ambulatory surgery center capacity by 150%, going from four operating rooms to 10 across Mecklenburg County, according to Becker's Spine Review. That expansion also includes doubling the operating rooms at the Matthews location.
Selling Off Services To Fund The Build-Out
To help finance its outpatient expansion, OrthoCarolina divested its physical therapy business to PT Solutions in January 2025, Becker's Spine Review reported.
That capital shift lines up with a change in state policy. In March 2023, North Carolina lawmakers passed House Bill 76, eliminating Certificate of Need requirements for qualified ambulatory surgical facilities in counties with populations exceeding 125,000, including Mecklenburg County. The law tied the exemption's effective date to the first HASP-directed payment, which McGuireWoods expected to begin later in 2023. North Carolina had historically maintained some of the strictest CON restrictions in the country, and the reform removed a major barrier that once forced independent physician groups into hospital joint ventures or state allocation processes just to open a standalone surgery center.
Steele Creek's Rapid Growth Meets New Infrastructure
The location also tracks with explosive population growth in the surrounding area. Census data shows Steele Creek's population grew 46.7% between 2010 and 2020, reaching 76,301 residents — more than double Mecklenburg County's overall 21% growth rate over the same decade, according to the Steele Creek Residents Association. That followed a decade in which the area's population had already doubled, from 25,282 residents in 2000.
OrthoCarolina is a physician-owned orthopedic practice with more than 40 locations and has been physician-owned since 1922.
A Direct Line To State Employee Benefits
The new surgical capacity also connects to a state-level cost-saving push. In June 2026, the North Carolina State Health Plan added OrthoCarolina as a preferred provider through the specialty care platform Lantern, enabling eligible Plan members to undergo select orthopedic surgeries at $0 out-of-pocket cost with no copays or deductibles, according to the North Carolina Office of the State Treasurer.
How established hospital systems such as Atrium Health and Novant Health respond to losing elective surgical volume to physician-owned centers like OrthoCarolina's remains an open question, as does whether infrastructure in fast-growing Steele Creek can keep pace with demand. OrthoCarolina's surgeons have also been active on other fronts recently — Hoodline reported on VR pain therapy launched by the group's Axolo Health venture earlier this year.
