Sarasota Memorial seeking design/build teams for North Port hospital and free-standing ER
NORTH PORT – Sarasota Memorial Health Care System detailed more specifications for its planned North Port Hospital, as well as for its Wellen Park campus in ads seeking architectural and engineering and general contracting services on the projects as it moves toward construction in 2025.
The scope of work for the Sumter Boulevard site calls for a 350,000-square-foot hospital that would include up to 200 acute care beds, as well as a 35-bed emergency department and 24-bed observational unit. The campus would have a parking garage for 600 to 800 vehicles and a surface parking lot for 500 to 700 more, a 20,000-square-foot central energy plant and a 60,000-square-foot office building.
The 28-acre site at 7900 S. Tamiami Trail in Wellen Park could contain at least a 15,000-square-foot free-standing emergency care facility that could be expanded to 30,000 square feet.
The number of treatment areas in the free-standing emergency room was not detailed in legal advertising for contractors.
In addition, plans call for a 20,000-square-foot medical office building that could double to 40,000-square feet.
The concept plan allows for the possibility of the free-standing emergency room to someday connect to a 300,000-square-foot, 150-bed acute care hospital.
In August 2022, the hospital had announced aspirations to break ground on a future hospital at 4900 N. Sumter Boulevard sometime in 2025. It also announced general plans for an out-patient facility on 28 acres in Wellen Park, but the Oct. 20 legal ads specifically define that facility as a free-standing Emergency Room.
“Our goal is to develop master plans for each campus that are forward thinking, financially sound and flexible enough to meet the needs of North Port and south county residents well into the future,” Sarasota Memorial Health Care System CEO David Verinder told the Herald-Tribune via email. “Once the conceptual plans and cost estimating are complete, we will present our options and recommendations to the hospital board for funding and approval.
“If all goes smoothly, we hope to be breaking ground on both campuses in 2025, the same year we celebrate our health system’s 100th anniversary.”
Advertising for contractors early step in expansion process for Sarasota Memorial
SMH spokeswoman Kim Savage pointed out that while the Sarasota County Public Hospital Board reached consensus to move forward with the development of the two projects at its 2023 strategic planning session, there has been no formal approval of either project and characterized the “requests for statement of qualifications” for contractors as very early steps in the process.
The hiring of both architectural/engineering services and general contractors are necessary to form conceptual master plans that would be used in a study to help establish both the scope and cost of the facilities.
“When you’re talking about master plans, you’re talking about everything that’s possible on a given site,” Savage said.
She added that the hospital would develop the parcels “according to board approval, strategic priorities, regulatory approvals and the availability of funds.”
The nine-member public hospital board must ultimately approve a funding amount and development options for the two campuses.
Growing health care competition in South Sarasota County
The deadline to submit qualifications for both architectural and engineering and general contracting is Dec. 6.
Selection committees will review applications in January, with the top firms ranked at public meetings.
Sarasota Memorial Health Care system opened its Venice hospital campus in November 2021 and linked that opening as key to increasing the physician base in south Sarasota County before eventually moving forward with a hospital in North Port.
In September 2022, Community Health Systems Inc. closed its 312-bed ShorePoint Health Venice hospital, which had a census of roughly 40 patients a day. The closing created a significant shortage of both emergency services and hospital beds in south Sarasota County.
In addition to the 28-bed emergency department in the 110-bed Venice hospital, SMH has 21 treatment rooms in a free-standing emergency room in North Port.
Both SMH and Hospital Corp. of America – which operates HCA-Florida Englewood Hospital and HCA-Florida Fawcett Hospital, the latter in Charlotte County – have been moving to provide additional services.
In May, HCA Florida-Englewood purchased 30 acres in Wellen Park with the intent of building a free-standing emergency room but did not rule out expanding services on that site to include a hospital, “to match the healthcare needs of the community as it grows,” according to a statement attributed to Steve Young, Chief Executive Officer of HCA Florida Englewood Hospital.
In June HCA Florida-Fawcett opened a free-standing ER off of U.S. 41, just east of the Charlotte County line.
In August, SMH announced a $90 million expansion of its Venice campus emergency department and surgical suites, in addition to an ongoing expansion of the number of hospital beds from 110 to 212.
In October, SMH opened an urgent care facility in South Venice.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: SMH posts ads for design/build services for North Port Hospital and ER
