New details of plans for first full-service hospital in North Port announced this week
As the Sarasota Memorial Health Care System (SMH) prepares for land clearing to start for construction of North Port’s first full-service hospital, SMH leaders already are planning the future expansion of the South County campus, SMH announced this week.
“The Sarasota County Public Hospital Board approved spending $57 million to add three floors of shell space to the 100-bed hospital,” along with one floor of shell space to an attached medical office building, a news release explains. “That will bring the total cost of the project to $507 million,” the release adds.
“A groundbreaking is planned for November,” the release notes.
“When completed, Sarasota Memorial Hospital-North Port will be nine stories tall,” the release says, and the adjacent medical office building will encompass three stories. “Adding shell space now rather than waiting five years or more will allow SMH to quickly double the inpatient capacity from 100 to 208 beds and increase the medical office space from 60,000 to 90,000 square feet,” the release explains.
“Given the rapid growth in the South County region, and the escalation of cost and impact of future construction, we felt it made sense, financially and operationally, to design the first tower so that it can be expanded quickly with less impact on patients, staff and hospital operations,” said David Verinder, CEO of Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, in the release.
“Building a hospital in North Port has been part of Sarasota Memorial’s growth plan for many years,” the release explains. In January, the Hospital Board approved construction of the health system’s third acute-care hospital — and the first in the city of North Port, the release notes. The facility will stand on property that SMH owns on North Sumter Boulevard, near Interstate 75, the release says.
Hospital staff members have been working with North Port city staff “and other regulatory officials” since the start of 2024 “to obtain the planning approvals needed to begin developing the Sumter site, as well as a new campus in nearby Wellen Park. Plans for Wellen Park are still being evaluated,” the release points out.
“Slated to open in fall of 2028, the 100-bed hospital on Sumter Boulevard will offer a comprehensive range of emergency, medical, surgical and specialty care, a full complement of diagnostic and outpatient services, and primary and specialty physician practices in the adjacent medical office building,” the release adds.
“The first floor will include emergency, radiology/imaging, administrative and support services, as well as a cafeteria and coffee bar; the second floor will house surgical and procedural areas; and floors four through six will be dedicated patient care units with 100 private rooms for admitted patients,” the release continues. “The third floor is reserved for mechanical space. Floors 7-9 will be built as open shells and finished in a future phase,” the release adds. Long-range master plans for SMH-North Port “include a flexible campus design that can expand to more than 400 beds (that would involve a future phase requiring planning, permitting and funding approvals),” the release explains.
“Jeff Wesner, who previously served as chief operating officer of SMH-Venice, was named president of SMH-North Port on Aug. 4,” the release notes. Along with Sharon Roush, president of SMH-Venice and SMH’s South County market, the release says, “Wesner played a key role in the successful opening of the Venice campus” in November 2021. Last year, Wesner “helped guide Venice’s expansion, doubling hospital capacity with the opening of a new bed tower and enlargement of the Emergency Care Center/OR,” the release adds.
“SMH-North Port has been part of our growth plans for many years, and we are eager to break ground in November,” Wesner said in the release. “With medical facilities that now stretch from east Manatee County to our comprehensive health care center and ER in North Port,” he added in the release, “SMH has the medical infrastructure in place to support a full-service hospital in North Port and extend SMH’s 5-star care to the growing South County region.”
For future updates on SMH-North Port, visit smh.com/NorthPortUpdates.