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

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.

UNC Health and Duke Health are partnering to build a new children's health system that will include North Carolina's first freestanding pediatric hospital, the pair announced Tuesday. | The academic health systems' vision,