SARASOTA (Nov. 21, 2017) – The
Sarasota County Public Hospital Board on Monday selected
Flad Architects and
Gilbane Building Co. to design and construct its new $225 million, 65-acre hospital campus in Venice. The Wisconsin-based architecture and Rhode Island-based general contracting firms were ranked No. 1 after a series of public selection meetings this month.
The Hospital Board’s unanimous vote cleared the way for SMH staff to begin working with the firms on pre-construction and design plans for the new hospital campus while the health system awaits the state’s final order on its Certificate-of-Need application.
SMH’s Laurel Road campus in Venice includes a 315,000-square-foot, 90-bed, acute-care hospital with a 20-bed observation unit and 25-room Emergency Care Center. In addition to medical, surgical, intensive care and obstetrical units, the new hospital will include interventional / surgical suites; a dedicated operating room for emergency or medically necessary C-sections; cardiac catheterization lab; endoscopy suite; respiratory services; infusion/chemotherapy services; rehabilitation services, including physical, occupational and speech/language therapy; radiology/imaging services; a laboratory and pharmacy, among other clinical services. The campus also will include outpatient services and a medical office building.
“We evaluated proposals from more than a dozen highly qualified firms and believe we have assembled the best team for this project,” said SMH CEO David Verinder, who served on the public selection committee, along with SMH’s chief nursing officer, Hospital Board representatives and other key hospital leaders and architecture/construction experts. “We look forward to hosting neighborhood meetings and working with the city and our project team to develop a hospital and campus plan that will serve the region well for years to come.”
Flad and Gilbane will work with SMH and the Hammes Co., a capital program management firm, to begin master planning the site, as well as preliminary design and pre-construction planning to develop the Laurel Road campus.
Flad has been a leader in healthcare construction in Florida and nationally for more than 35 years. Within the last seven years, its national and Tampa-based teams have completed master plans for the University of Florida Health/Shands’ main campus and satellite facilities in Gainesville, Fla.; Lee Health’s satellite hospital in Estero, Fla.; and St. Anthony’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla. It also has worked with SMH for the past two years on several campus construction projects and is currently working on preliminary design concepts for a new comprehensive cancer center.
Gilbane, which is ranked among the
2017 Top 10 Healthcare Construction firms in the United States by Building Design & Construction, is based in Rhode Island but has a Sarasota division with 45 years of construction experience in Sarasota County, as well as strong relationships with subcontractors serving this region and Florida. Nationally, the firm has completed more than 275 healthcare construction projects in the past 10 years, totaling $9.3 billion in value. It has worked with 11 of the top 50 largest public hospitals systems and has built a number of hospitals, including Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, Fort Belvoir, Va.; University of Virginia/Lee Street Medical Center, Charlottesville, Va.; Albert Einstein Healthcare Network/New Regional Medical Center, East Norriton, Penn.; Lake Health TriPoint Medical Center, Concord, Ohio; Meritus Medical Center, Hagerstown, Md.; and the Henry J. Carter Specialty Hospital and Nursing Facility, New York, N.Y. Locally, the firm built Riverview High School’s replacement campus, rebuilt and renovated Venice High School, and built the FCCI corporate headquarters, among other projects.
Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration granted preliminary approval of SMH’s CON application last year, but the project was delayed after surrounding hospitals challenged the state's decision. A hearing on those challenges ended in September with SMH presenting a strong case that its new hospital will best enhance residents' access to high-quality, affordable healthcare. The state is expected to issue a final order on the application in early 2018.
Once it obtains its CON approval, SMH estimates, it will take about three years to build the campus. It expects to treat up to 5,000 patients and 850 obstetrical patients in its first year.
About Sarasota Memorial Health Care System
Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is a regional referral center offering Southwest Florida’s greatest breadth and depth of care, with more than 900,000 patient visits each year. Its flagship 829-bed, acute-care hospital has been consistently recognized as one of the nation’s largest and best, with superior patient outcomes and a complete continuum of outpatient services – from urgent care, trauma and emergency services to laboratory and diagnostic imaging, home health, skilled nursing and rehabilitation. SMH is the only hospital in Florida with the highest five-star ranking from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid for quality and safety.