AdventHealth To Open New Hospital In Winter Haven; Orlando Health To Expand Into Lakeland

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Healthcare facilities are expanding at an astounding rate to match the population boom and increased need in Central Florida.

AdventHealth is expanding its footprint in Polk County with a new four-story hospital and emergency department off Cypress Gardens Boulevard in Winter Haven. In Lakeland, Orlando Health is expanding, planning a hospital and surrounding campus in the fast-growing South Lakeland area.

This planned construction is further evidence of the growth in Polk County, which expanded from 603,000 residents in 2010 to 753,500 by 2021.

AdventHealth, a Seventh-Day Adventist nonprofit healthcare system headquartered in Altamonte Springs, recently announced its plans for a new, four-story hospital in Winter Haven.

The 42 acres north of Cypress Gardens Boulevard, south of River Lake and west of Cypress Gardens Road will eventually become a medical campus for the 192-bed AdventHealth Winter Haven hospital with an emergency department and 160,000 square feet of medical offices and ancillary facilities.

The AdventHealth expansion plans were given final approval when the Winter Haven City Commission unanimously approved the development November 14.

“The southeast section of Winter Haven is growing in leaps and bounds, and this will make it a lot easier when time is sensitive for medical issues for the citizens to get medical care,” says Winter Haven City Commissioner J.P. Powell. 

“It’s necessary. The other alternative was going to Lake Wales or Haines City, and with medical issues. time is of the essence. It will be a real asset.”

According to AdventHealth, the first phase of construction will include a freestanding emergency room that will open before the hospital is completed. Once open, hospital services will include primary care, cardiology, gastroenterology, orthopedic, and urological specialty medical services.

Tim Clark, president and CEO of the AdventHealth Polk Market, has worked at AdventHealth for 19 years in various positions. He started as president and CEO of the Polk Market on June 5. He says the new hospital will bring “whole-person care to residents close to home,” particularly in the southeast section of Winter Haven.

Once completed, the new hospital will be part of a network of AdventHealth centers already operational in areas such as Carrollwood (Tampa), Dade City, Lake Placid, Lake Wales, Sebring, and Wauchula. It will also be among five freestanding offsite AdventHealth emergency rooms, including those in Brandon, Palm Harbor and Tampa’s Westchase community.

In addition to AdventHealth, Orlando Health’s foray into Polk County will help to create more medical access points, particularly along Interstate 4, for individuals living in South Lakeland.

Founded more than 100 years ago, Orlando Health is a nonprofit healthcare organization with $7.6 billion in assets that is headquartered in Orlando and serves the southeastern United States.

Orlando Health’s Lakeland Highlands Hospital will be located on 80 acres south of the Polk Parkway at Lakeland Highlands Road and the Winter Lake Extension Road. Pre-construction work is already underway, and construction will begin in early 2023 with an expected opening in summer 2026, according to Bayfront Health St. Petersburg. The first phase of the multi-story hospital will have 136 inpatient beds and 24 emergency department beds. Plans for future phases call for an expansion to 360 beds.

Orlando Health officials have already been meeting with City of Lakeland officials and community leaders over the past several months.

“When we open, we will have enough capacity in Phase I to address immediate needs that will serve us for the first four to five years of operation,” says John Moore, senior vice president of Orlando Health West Region and president of Bayfront Health St. Petersburg. 

“Going forward, expansion will be based on analytics and will occur in phases of approximately 90- to 120-bed increments.”

Orlando Health will build in an area already served by Lakeland Regional Hospital and Bartow Memorial Medical Center and has used market data to bring medical services to areas where additional medical care is needed.

The new Orlando Health Lakeland Highlands Hospital is planned to include a 20,000-square-foot ambulatory surgical center; 240,000 square feet of medical office space; a 20,000 square feet of retail space; and a 150-room hotel to accommodate patients and their families.

“Hotel accommodations play an important role when providing health care,” says Moore, who’s responsible for developing, leading, and implementing the hospital’s strategic and operational direction. 

“They are an extremely important factor when discussing outpatient procedures, especially for those driving in who have a procedure on day one and a follow-up appointment with a surgeon the next day.”

Moore says Orlando Health’s strategic planning team conducted research and reviews to determine areas in Polk County that are lacking in certain medical services that can be provided by Orlando Health. He cites Lakeland Regional Hospital having the highest-volume emergency department in the area, “which is a challenge for any one facility to manage.”

Additionally, Orlando Health Lakeland Highlands Hospital will have a larger inpatient capacity than what was originally planned, says Dr. Jamal Hakim, chief operating officer.

“As one of the state’s fastest growing communities, Orlando Health recognizes that it needs to accelerate its delivery of high-quality, outcome-based health care to these communities,” he says. “We are excited about our revised plan and its many benefits for the community.” 

The addition to Polk County — and more specifically Lakeland’s — health care options are welcome, says Lakeland Mayor Bill Mutz. He says the city’s growth must consider how it enhances “quality of life through community health.”

“Orlando Health’s Lakeland expansion provides expanded services on a timely basis to support our growth,” says Mutz. “The significant capital investment and historical quality of health care provided by Orlando Health will become a timely and necessary addition for our citizens.” 

 

Source:  Central Florida Health News

 

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Encompass Health Proposes 50-Bed Hospital In Daytona Beach

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Encompass Health Corporation (EHC) recently announced plans to construct an inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Daytona Beach, FL. The hospital will house 50 beds and comprise advanced rehabilitation technologies and equipment.

The latest update reflects EHC’s endeavor to expand rehabilitative care across the Atlantic coast of Florida. This, in turn, is likely to aid patients suffering debilitating illnesses and injuries in the Daytona Beach area. A well-versed medical team comprising highly specialized nurses, therapists and physicians will enable Encompass Health to seamlessly serve the region’s residents.

Encompass Health’s one of the most longstanding endeavors is pretty evident from its recent move of footprint expansion throughout Florida. Presently, EHC has 19 inpatient rehabilitation hospitals across the state. The 19th hospital of Florida in St. Petersburg was inaugurated in September 2022.

EHC further plans to penetrate Florida with seven more hospitals, likely to be built in the next few years.

Encompass Health seems to be on a spree to unveil plans to build hospitals across different U.S. states and subsequently, inaugurate the same within a reasonable timeline. Through these hospitals, the ulterior motive of EHC remains to provide specialized rehabilitative care to patients in close proximity to their homes and delve into the underserved parts of the nation grappling with insufficient access to quality care.

Strong demand for high-quality rehabilitation care requires patients to return to their normal daily activities. This provides an impetus to Encompass Health to ramp up its expansion plans.

Additionally, a swift geographical expansion strategy continues to bolster EHC’s nationwide reach and contributes to revenues of its sole operating segment, Inpatient Rehabilitation. Management anticipates net operating revenues within $4,320-$4,350 million for 2022.

Encompass Health’s current count of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals stands at 153, stretching across 36 states and Puerto Rico.

Shares of Encompass Health have lost 12.4% in a year compared with the industry’s decline of 30.8%.

 

Source:  Nasdaq

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Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Launches Surgical Tower

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Nicklaus Children’s Hospital is launching the next phase of its master facility plan, with the construction of a 127,000-square-foot surgical tower.

Slated for completion in 2024, The tower will rise four stories above the hospital’s emergency department at 3100 SW 62nd Ave.

“The tower will strengthen our legacy as the number one children’s hospital in Florida,” said Matthew A. Love, president and CEO of Nicklaus Children’s Health System, “and the premier center for delivering the best surgical care to the children of our community, our state and around the world.”

The surgical tower will enable the hospital to construct new state-of-the-art operating suites to replace existing operating rooms that are now 35 years old and lack the size and ceiling height necessary to accommodate fully the latest equipment, along with multidisciplinary surgical teams required for complex cases.

Services would include augmented reality during surgery and virtual reality surgical planning. The new structure plans to also offer spacious and private pre-and post-surgical care spaces for the children and families.

The tower will co-exist along with the Advanced Pediatric Care Pavilion, the hospital’s 217,000-square-foot, six-story bed tower that is home to the hospital’s three intensive care units, which are pediatric, neonatal and congenital heart, as well as the hematology-oncology bone marrow transplant and neurology units.

Contracted by Brasfield & Gorrie and architecture by Perkins+Will, the surgical tower is set to feature spacious single-patient rooms, an intraoperative MRI and the latest technology.

“The planned new state-of-the-art surgical suites have been on the hospital’s ‘wish list’ for many years,” said Jack Nicklaus, iconic golfer and philanthropist, “and we know the tower is going to fill an important need for the children of South Florida and around the globe.”

 

Source:  Miami Today

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South Florida Medical Office Market Set For Growth

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Even with a potential national recession, South Florida’s office market is set for continued growth, a Colliers broker told the Business Journal.

Kim Kretowicz, senior managing director of healthcare investment sales in South Florida for Colliers International said Florida’s continued population growth has made medical office buildings an attractive sector to invest in throughout the Sunshine State, but particularly in Southeast Florida.

“The medical office sector remains attractive from both a fundamentals and performance standpoint, despite the crumbling debt market and shaky economy. Demand outweighs supply,” she said.

Overall, South Florida’s office market is among the strongest in the nation as companies inside and outside of the region hunt for quality office space that suits their needs. As a result, as of the third quarter, asking office rents have generally risen above pre-pandemic rates here though not always as fast as the rate of inflation. There’s also been a slow down in office deals due to rising interest rates and fears of a recession.

Still, medical office buildings are an asset class of their own.

“The cost to build out for medical space is easily three times more expensive than [regular] office,” Kretowicz said, adding that medical office tenants need larger elevators, and specially-designed office space and plumbing.

Yet with greater expense comes stable cash flow. Kretowicz said medical office tenants tend to stay longer than regular office tenants. They’re also a source of stable cash flow. Medical office tenants are typically charged triple net, meaning that inflationary costs like utilities, maintenance, and assessments are passed on to office tenants. In the third quarter, rents for medical office ranged from $17.30 to $37.80 a square foot, triple net, according to figures from RevistaMed, a Maryland-based medical property research company.

Available medical office space is hard to find, too, even though at 22.21 million square feet, South Florida has the 10th largest amount of inventory among 125 major metro areas, Kretowicz said. In the third quarter of 2022, the region’s medical office vacancy was 6.9%. In contrast, overall office vacancies was 8.8% in Palm Beach County, 10.3% in Miami-Dade, and 11.2% in Broward, according to recent Colliers reports.

Regional, national, and international players are also pouring more money into medical office properties.

In the third quarter, transactions involving South Florida medical office buildings climbed 155.3% from the previous year to $916.17 million – the seventh highest volume among top 125 metro U.S. markets, according to RevistaMe. Developers, meanwhile, are in the process of building another 1.87 million square feet of medical office in the tri-county region, Kretowicz said.

“Healthcare’s strong fundamentals offer reliable and consistent occupancy,” she said. “…[And] sales volume is off the charts in South Florida due to the increase in population causing never before demand for medical office buildings.”

 

Source:  SFBJ

 

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$100M Health Care Center In Miami Would Create 356 Jobs

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The developer of the Blue Zones Center in Miami has revealed details of what will be downtown’s largest health care facility, and a significant job creator.

Stephen Watson, managing partner of Blue Zones Center in Miami, said the health care facility would cost $100 million to build. It would employ 30 health care providers and 140 support staff in the first year. By the fifth year, it would have 56 health care providers and 300 support staff, he said.

That includes staff employed directly by Blue Zones and independent physician offices that are housed within the center, Watson added.

Blue Zones Center will take up 220,000 square feet at the base of the Legacy Hotel & Residences at 942 N.E. First Ave. The project broke ground in 2021 and will also feature 310 branded condos available for short-term rentals, a 219-room hotel and numerous restaurants.

The facility will offer annual and monthly memberships, although patients can also schedule visits with independent physicians who work there, he said. It will not take Medicare or Medicaid.

Members will receive extensive evaluations of their health care and lifestyle, understand their strengths and weaknesses, and be counseled on how to extend their lives, Watson said. The facility would include a fitness center, an ambulatory surgery center, orthopedics, spa treatments, food and refreshments, diagnostics imaging, behavioral health treatments, and a pharmacy.

Blue Zones Center should open in the third quarter of 2025, and hiring will start 14 to 16 months prior.

 

Source:  SFBJ

 

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