Healthcare Providers Looking To Renovate Rather Than Build New

While there has been a surge in construction of new healthcare facilities over the last few years, many providers are looking at renovations instead.

“Every dollar has to count,” said HKS Architects principal and Pediatric Practice Leader Rachel Knox, who was one of the panelists at Bisnow’s State of Denver Healthcare event Oct. 4 at the Hyatt Regency Aurora-Denver Conference Center. “There’s been an emphasis on renovation projects in what used to be subpar space. Now, it’s ‘how can we create parity between new and old and make it seem seamless for the patients and staff to use that space?’”

Phoenix-based Banner Health, which serves northern Colorado, has a new hospital in Fort Collins, but Senior Project Executive of Development and Construction Kyle Majchrowski said the healthcare provider explores both repurposing an existing building and new construction when determining how to expand its presence.

“Repurposing has moved up,” Majchrowski said. “We ask, ‘Do we really need all that space, or can we change or modify it?’ We have a lot of unused real estate — let’s take advantage of it and see what we can do with it.”

WSP Senior Vice President Mark Montgomery said renovating a property provides flexibility and adaptability, but if the square footage isn’t adequate, the building must either be razed and rebuilt or sold.

Of the eight free-standing emergency departments Fleisher Smyth Brokaw CEO Michelle Brokaw has developed over the last three years, three were renovations. But, she said, they all cost the same to develop — the location is the key.

“Now everything has to be on the corner of Main and Main,” Brokaw said. “We spend a lot of time building out old bank buildings.”

Event panelists also discussed the labor shortage, building strong development teams, how to maintain access to healthcare to the region’s most vulnerable people and how to implement technology into medicine.

“Every major company, whether it’s Google or Apple, is thinking about what technology should be deployed in healthcare right now,” University of Colorado Managing Director of Innovations on the Anschutz Medical Campus Kimberly Muller said. “Every segment of our economy has been transformed by technology. Healthcare and education are the last two industries to be disrupted by technology.”

Technology will allow patients to be cared for in their homes rather than hospitals, but the reimbursement model has to change to allow that to happen, Children’s Hospital Colorado CEO Jena Hausmann said. Today, many children are admitted to a hospital after an emergency room visit so staff can monitor their oxygen levels. Children’s has spent $30M over the last 10 years figuring out how to get parents to perform that task.

“There is always a push to outpatient treatment or discharging patients sooner,” Hausmann said. “But just because we save somebody money in the system, doesn’t mean it gets to the consumer or governmental payers.”

Source: Bisnow

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Hospital Embarks On Historic $256M Expansion

Florida Hospital Tampa, part of Adventist Health System, has broken ground on a six-story, 300,000-square-foot patient and surgical tower at the corner of Fletcher Avenue and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in Tampa.

The $256 million expansion project will be known as the Taneja Center for Innovative Surgery and is slated to open in 2021. According to a press release, it will feature 24 new operating rooms, a new hospital entrance and more than 100 private dedicated surgical care beds. It will create an estimated 117 clinical jobs in its first year of operation, and 587 jobs by the fifth year, the release states.

“This is a state-of-the-art project that will provide specialty care in Tampa Bay that you can’t find anywhere else in our area,” states Brian Adams, president and CEO of Florida Hospital Tampa, in the release. “Our goal is to design a surgical tower that isn’t just relevant today, but will be relevant 30 years from now, combining surgical innovation and the most advanced robotic technologies with the nation’s best physicians.”

The family of Jugal and Manju Taneja provided a generous gift toward the expansion project — the largest donation ever to the hospital’s west Florida division.

“This is about more than growth and expansion,” states Mike Schultz, president and CEO of Florida Hospital West Florida Division, in the release. “This is about connecting our community to the kind of expert health care that’s needed and delivering it with Florida Hospital’s unique brand of inspired, compassionate care.”

Source: Business Observer

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Hospital Buying Former Herald-Tribune Building In Sarasota

The Sarasota Memorial Health Care System plans to spend $17.3 million to buy and renovate the former Sarasota Herald-Tribune building on Main Street and move more than 300 support services personnel to the three-story downtown site.

The hospital’s board unanimously approved the plan Monday.

Relocating the employees would free space for growth on the hospital’s main campus and improve “interdepartmental efficiencies” among support service departments scattered in different buildings, hospital staff stated in the proposal.

The hospital’s plan includes building a one-story parking structure that would add 90 to 100 spaces to the current 240 ground-level parking spots.

“We’re landlocked now on the main campus,” said hospital board member Tramm Hudson. “This frees up space inside the campus for clinical expansion and patient care. This is a good value for the citizens of Sarasota County and for health care.”

The hospital said it would spend $11.8 million to acquire the property and $2.26 million to build the parking garage. Other costs would raise the project price tag to $17.33 million.

With the 8-0 vote for the plan, due diligence on the purchase will begin immediately and conclude by Nov. 20, according to the hospital staff’s timeline. Closing of the purchase would occur by Jan. 20, and renovations would begin the following week, with completion by April and full occupancy on May 27.

Local developer Wayne Ruben signed a contract in June to buy the building, most recently listed for $13.95 million, with plans to redevelop the property into a mixed-use project.

The 72,408-square-foot building sits on 3.8 acres at 1741 Main St. Built in 2006, it was first listed for sale at $18.1 million when it was fully leased to the Herald-Tribune and IberiaBank. The Herald-Tribune moved to the SunTrust building next door in February 2017, and the building is now vacant except for a portion of the third floor occupied by SNN News Now.

It is owned by an affiliate of Halifax Media Holdings of Little Rock, Arkansas, which sold the newspaper to New Media Investment Group and Gatehouse Media in early 2015.

The building sits 1.7 miles from Sarasota Memorial’s campus. The hospital previously rented space for administrative staff at Sarasota Main Plaza but later moved them to space at or near the campus.

The Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, an 829-bed regional medical center, is among the largest public health systems in Florida. It has more than 5,000 staff and 900 physicians.

Its growth has created space challenges. For example, the perioperative suite and cardiology department are hampered by their current space and lack of room to expand, hospital staff said in its recommendation.

Under the plan, Sarasota Memorial plans to consolidate administrative functions currently at four locations. Supply chain management, corporate compliance, First Physicians Group central business office and clinical business systems would move from the main campus. The “revenue cycle” operation, which includes patient financial services and registration, would move from Hillview Street. The corporate finance department will relocate from Bee Ridge Road, and the physician IT services will come from Doctor’s Gardens.

The emptied spaces would be used for expansion or other offices.

Source: Herald-Tribune

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Florida Hospital To Expand Cardiovascular Institute

Florida Hospital plans to expand its cardiovascular institute in downtown Orlando by 13,200 square feet.

The expansion, will include a center for genomics, will be called the Center for Living. It is expected to care for more than 8,000 cardiovascular patients during its first three years of operation.

Construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2019, with completion slated for the end of 2020. Birmingham, Ala.-based Brasfield & Gorrie LLC is the contractor for the project, while Orlando-based HuntonBrady Architects is the architect, said Florida Hospital spokesman David Breen.

Alan Ginsburg Family Foundation donated $3 million for the facility. The foundation, named after area real estate developer Alan Ginsburg, previously donated $20 million in 2007 toward a $255 million, 440-bed patient tower called the Ginsburg Tower at Florida Hospital.

“We appreciate the Ginsburg family for their generosity and continued commitment to advancing health care in Central Florida,” Duane Davis, chief medical officer of Florida Hospital’s institutes, said in a prepared statement. “The Center for Living will create an environment that combines our diverse cardiovascular services with genomics and wellness programs, elevating our care and strengthening our wholistic approach to healing.”

Florida Hospital CEO Daryl Tol previously told Orlando Business Journal that genomic care would be central to the health care provider’s services moving forward. “Genomic health care will impact all of the care across our system. We will have a specific geographic location for the Center for Genomic Health at AdventHealth Orlando, which is now Florida Hospital Orlando. We will have a focused team of experts.”

Along with its future name change to AdventHealth in January, Florida Hospital has multiple projects in the development pipeline for the area.

For example, Florida Hospital plans to build a 300,000-square-foot, 100-bed patient tower and a medical office building to go with its freestanding emergency department in Winter Garden. The proposed seven-story facility, which does not yet have a construction timeline, is expected to create 700 jobs when completed.

Source: OBJ

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Medical Building Boom Continues In Ocala

Ocala medical facilities are in a building boom, with expansions and renovations at several facilities.

In addition to the continued construction at Florida Hospital Ocala, West Marion Community Hospital and Ocala Regional Medical Center, work on additions is underway at Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Ocala and One Health Center.

The Heart of Florida Health Center is renovating an area at its central location to include a pharmacy. The organization also is poised to close on the purchase of a nearly 70,000-square-foot former supermarket location, which will need extensive interior renovations.

The Vines Hospital is set to start an extensive renovation at its facility. And, Ocala Eye just opened a new facility at Market Street at Heath Brook.

Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital, formerly HealthSouth, at 2275 SW 22nd Lane, started construction on a new $5.5 million wing that will add room for up to 20 more patients at the 60-bed facility. Ten beds will open immediately when the more than 10,000-square-foot expansion opens in summer 2019. They will have room for 10 more beds in the future.

The addition includes expansion of the cafeteria and will bring the hospital to almost 70,000-square-feet on the 6.74-acre campus.

Last June, the hospital bought an adjacent one-acre property that included a building that housed a Hardee’s restaurant. This week, the hospital got a permit to demolish the building. Jeff Empfield of Encompass said the building will come down soon and the area will be turned into a parking lot.

The Ocala facility provides rehabilitation to patients recovering from strokes, hip fractures and other injuries or illness. It offers a wide range of therapies, including physical, occupational, respiratory and speech.

One Health Center, the mega healthcare facility at 1714 SW 17th St. started building a 5,500-square-foot addition on the east side of the facility. The addition will include administration offices and more space for the imaging department, said Robert Putzeys, OHC director.

Work on the $550,000 addition should finish by the end of the year, Putzey said.

One Health Center includes an urgent care center, cardiology, endocrinology and radiology services, and programs for senior citizens.

Heart of Florida has started construction on a pharmacy at the 1025 SW First Ave. facility. The $50,000 project is more than halfway finished, said Heather James, Heart of Florida spokeswoman.

Once finished, the pharmacy will serve the organization’s patients only with lower-cost medications. Another Heart of Florida pharmacy will open in about two weeks at the east facility inside the Florida Department of Health in Marion County at 1801 SE 32nd Ave.

The organization, which provides health care services to low-income residents, also recently signed a contract to buy the former Albertsons building at 2553 E Silver Springs Blvd., for $2.9 million. If the deal closes, the renovation to the interior will cost about $2 million.

The Vines Hospital plans a nearly $800,000 interior renovation at the facility, 3130 SW 27th Ave. The project will convert 22 beds from adolescent residential treatment to adult inpatient, according to a statement from the hospital.

The Vines has 98 beds and offers crisis stabilization, psychiatric care, detox services, a women’s trauma program, the H.O.P.E. program for active-duty females and female veterans, and outpatient services.

Ocala Eye recently opened a new facility in the Market Street at Heath Brook complex at 4414 SW State Road 200. The new location will replace the Paddock Park office. The facility will offer optometry services as well as LASIK, hearing and aesthetic services.

The ophthalmology practice has five offices and serves Marion County and The Villages. Founded in 1971, the practice offers a wide range of services, including cataract surgery and glaucoma treatment.

Ocala Health System continues its more than $120 million in expansions and renovations at West Marion Community Hospital, Ocala Regional Medical Center and a planned stand-alone emergency room in Ocala.

The addition of 36 beds on the newly constructed fifth floor at West Marion will cap a $62.7 million expansion at the hospital, which included nine additional emergency treatment rooms for a total of 32 and the addition of four operating rooms, doubling the previous total.

At ORMC, 34 news beds are part of $56.8 million in additions and renovations that also include 12 new emergency department rooms and two new operating rooms, as well as the redesign and renovation of several areas of the hospital.

In addition, Ocala Health soon will start construction on a $13 million freestanding ER on 4.38 acres at the corner of Maricamp Road and Southeast 30th Avenue, in the shadow of First Baptist Church of Ocala.

Ocala Health, which is part of the Tennessee-based Hospital Corporation of America, plans to finish construction by 2019.

Florida Hospital Ocala continues a $26 million expansion to the emergency department. In addition, the hospital, which is part of Adventist Health System, is pushing to build a $110 million hospital at the TimberRidge location on SR 200. While the project received initial approval in 2016 from the state, challenges, including from Ocala Health, scuttled the plans. The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration again approved the plan this year and challenges soon followed. In the interim, the lease to operate the hospital, formerly Munroe Regional Medical Center, changed hands from Community Health Systems to AHS. Florida Hospital Ocala abandoned the push and plans a fresh campaign next year.

Source: Ocala StarBanner

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