N.C. Children’s receives $25 million from Coca-Cola Consolidated

A $25 million gift from Coca-Cola Consolidated has been given to North Carolina Children’s, the state’s first child exclusive health system, supporting children through behavioral healthcare. 

N.C. Children’s is aiming to raise $1 billion in private funding to build its future 230-acre Apex-based hospital. The project had previously received $320 million from state legislators.

“We are deeply grateful to the entire Coca-Cola Consolidated family for this wonderful gift,” Dr. Wesley Burks, Chair of the N.C. Children’s Board of Directors, said in a news release. 

“Their partnership will change children’s lives by allowing NC Children’s to build and expand behavioral health programs across the full continuum of care,” Burks said.

In 2025, NC Children’s was established as a partnership between UNC Health and Duke Health, creating the first standalone children’s hospital in the Carolinas. 

NC Children’s announced the future facility will have approximately 570 hospital beds, with more than 100 beds in a children’s behavior-focused center. 

The main UNC Children’s campus has 166 beds, while the main Duke Children’s campus has 202 beds, each including those in specialized units for intensive care.

With this gift from Coca-Cola, NC Children’s plans to create a hospital that attends to the medical, emotional, psychological and social well-being of children and families, according to the news release.

Coca-Cola Consolidated has been headquartered in Charlotte for over 124 years, and is the largest Coca-Cola bottler in the country. 

“At Coca-Cola Consolidated, serving others is at the heart of our purpose,” Morgan Everett, Vice Chair of Coca-Cola Consolidated’s Board of Directors, said in the news release. 

“We are honored to collaborate with NC Children’s to establish a state-of-the-art hospital dedicated to delivering comprehensive care to children in need—both within our community and beyond,” Everett said.

The future hospital will be located in Apex, at the intersection of US-1 and NC-540. Construction is expected to begin in 2027, with the hospital anticipated to open by the early 2030s. 

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