DURHAM – Duke Health’s planned proton therapy center now carries a $172 million cost estimate, according to Triangle Business Journal, up from the $150 million estimate in Duke’s 2026 annual report and $120 million when the project was announced in 2024.
The latest figure is $22 million above Duke Radiation Oncology’s current public estimate and $52 million above the original plan. Triangle Business Journal published the $172 million estimate Oct. 13 and reported that the facility could open by 2029 after years of delay as health-care construction costs increased.
Duke’s 2026 annual report says the center is underway, the site has been selected and planning and design work are in progress. Duke also identified recruitment of physicians, physicists, therapists and operations leaders as a major milestone before opening.
Duke announced the project in December 2024 with a projected cost of $120 million and a $50 million philanthropic gift. That announcement projected a 2029 opening and capacity of about 800 patients a year; Duke’s 2026 annual report retained the opening and capacity estimates while listing a $150 million projected cost.
Duke says the center would expand access to proton therapy for pediatric and adult patients in North Carolina and the Southeast who now may have to travel long distances for treatment.
The immediate North Carolina business consequence is a higher capital estimate for a specialized Durham health-care facility that remains planned for 2029. The available sources do not disclose a revised financing plan, a construction-job total, a permanent-employment figure or a change to the planned patient capacity, so this report does not infer those outcomes.