MURFREESBORO, TN (WGNS News) - After years of legal back‑and‑forth, Vanderbilt University Medical Center has reportedly secured the go‑ahead to build Vanderbilt Rutherford Hospital in Murfreesboro. A Tennessee judge issued the ruling on January 21, 2026, affirming that state regulators acted properly when they approved the project back in December 2021. This decision from the Davidson County Chancery Court restored the Tennessee Health Facilities Commission’s final approval, with the judge noting that the decision was supported by substantial evidence and was not arbitrary.

Vanderbilt Rutherford Hospital is estimated to cost $144.3 million, and will include 42 beds, an emergency department, obstetrics, surgical suites, and cardiac catheterization. The new hospital is planned for the intersection of Veterans Parkway and State Route 840, right in the heart of the booming Blackman community.

The project’s path has been anything but smooth. After the initial approval in 2021, three competing hospital systems filed appeals (Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford, TriStar StoneCrest Medical Center, and Williamson Medical Center). Their challenge led to a 2023 administrative ruling that temporarily reversed the approval, throwing the future of the project into uncertainty.

According to an earlier WGNS news report, Vanderbilt purchased 79 acres near the intersection of I‑840 and Veterans Parkway on April 15, 2021, paying $8 million for the property. The parcel is listed at 1803 Blackman Road, which sits across from Ascension Saint Thomas’ Westlawn campus and adjacent to I-840. The land purchase was part of Vanderbilt’s earlier plan to build a 48‑bed hospital, the proposal that was denied in 2023 before the Chancery Court ruling opened the door to establishing another permanent, full‑service hospital in Murfreesboro.

Vanderbilt notes that this is a natural extension of medical services they have provided to the region over the past decade with currently more than 140 doctors and advanced practitioners providing care in the county. In addition, Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt offers a variety of services in two locations in Murfreesboro, from urgent and after-hours care to surgery, diabetes care, ENT, gastroenterology, orthopedics, urology and genetics clinics. Surgery services are supported by X-ray, ultrasound and MRI.