HCA Florida St. Lucie Hospital in midst of $154 million expansion to services, parking

PORT ST. LUCIE — A significant expansion of HCA Florida St. Lucie Hospital is underway that could dramatically expand the facility's footprint and services.

It is planned to include dozens more hospital beds, about 830 more parking spaces and an increase in women's services that will feature a Level 3 neonatal intensive care unit.

Growing populations need growing hospitals

The $154 million investment does not include potential future investments that the hospital also is actively considering.

"Obviously I think everybody knows that the Treasure Coast, Port St. Lucie, is growing," St. Lucie Hospital CEO Corey Lovelace said. "That's probably not going to slow down as it is now. We have felt that demand, as a system, and we're responding to it."

There may be more hospital growth soon in Port St. Lucie beyond St. Lucie Hospital. Tenet Health announced in 2022 plans to build a 54-bed hospital near Becker Road and Florida's Turnpike. In 2020, Cleveland Clinic purchased 44 acres near its existing Tradition Hospital, though the company has yet to announce its intentions for the site.

Timeline for projects, including parking

The first project scheduled to be completed is a 130-spot parking lot, according to Lovelace. Parking has been one of the most requested improvements by hospital staff, patients and visitors.

Next, a three-story, roughly $36 million, 75,000-square-foot medical office building, already under construction across the street from the main campus, is expected to be complete in mid-2025. It will service existing medical staff and allow for more independent providers, Lovelace said. It also will have space for the hospital's graduate medical education program.

An even bigger parking project — 700 spots — is next on the schedule, with a six-story, $36 million garage expected in late 2025 or early 2026.

"That should, for the foreseeable future, take care of our parking concerns," Lovelace said.

Shortly thereafter, in early 2026, completion of an expansion to the main campus will add two floors to the existing three-story section of the main building, bringing it even with the rest of the building, which is five stories.

The Port St. Lucie City Council last week unanimously approved rezoning part of the property to increase height limits and allow for the expansion.

The $82 million main-hospital project will allow for 35 new surgical beds and 33 new beds for women's services.

"This is to support growing demand in the community for bed capacity," Lovelace said. "With the population growth, we've seen more patients coming to the ER, more patients coming here for surgery."

Level 3 NICU could be coming

The new women's-services area will connect to existing facilities on the fifth floor, Lovelace said, and will allow the hospital to establish a Level 3 NICU.

Only one other Treasure Coast hospital, HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital in Fort Pierce, currently has a Level 3 NICU designation. Tradition Hospital in Port St. Lucie and Martin North Hospital in Stuart, both operated by Cleveland Clinic, have Level 2 NICUs. Only five Florida hospitals have a Level 4 NICU, the highest designation. The nearest is Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

"Around here, that will be the highest level possible," Lovelace said.

City Council support

At the meeting approving the height change, councilmembers voiced support for the expansion because the city's growth requires increased hospital capacity.

"My only question is how soon can you get the expansion done?" Councilman Anthony Bonna asked. "This is really good news."

Vice Mayor Jolien Caraballo suggested that the hospital should expand further, joking it may need to go to 10 stories, not five.

Further expansions being evaluated

While that level of expansion might not be on the immediate horizon, Lovelace indicated the hospital is considering changes beyond what's currently budgeted. Under evaluation are cardiac catheterization and in-patient rehab capabilities as well as expanded medical-surgical bed, emergency room and operating room spaces.

Growth by other companies won't slow down HCA, Lovelace said.

"We obviously evaluate what's happening. You have to, but ultimately we respond primarily based on what we see happening at our hospital and the community need of patients coming to our hospital," Lovelace said. "Even if other expansions happen at other hospitals, we should continue to expand,too, because the community is growing."

In addition to growth at the main campus, St. Lucie Hospital recently received city approval to build a freestanding emergency room in Stuart by June 30, 2026.

More: HCA looks to expand St. Lucie Hospital in Port St. Lucie, add floors to existing buildings

More: HCA Florida St. Lucie Hospital gets OK for freestanding emergency room in Stuart

Following the benchmarks

Local hospitals owned by HCA, like St. Lucie Hospital, have learned from the growth of other hospitals in the company which, Lovelace said, is a huge asset.

"The great thing, the differentiator, I'd say, about the company we work for is at HCA we have 180-plus hospitals around the country. There's some in England too, and that allows us to benchmark things and say, 'Hey, once you hit this many (emergency department) visits per bed, you should probably add some ER beds,'" Lovelace said. "Not just randomly adding them. We evaluate that and it allows us to benchmark very very well."

Wicker Perlis is TCPalm's Watchdog Reporter for St. Lucie County. You can reach him at wicker.perlis@tcpalm.com and 504-331-0516.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: This Port St. Lucie hospital is growing, will add level three NICU