Sarasota Memorial Expands North Port Hospital before Breaking Ground

by Bill Bambrick

Sarasota Memorial North Port Hospital Rendering

Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is preparing to build North Port’s first full-service hospital, and administrators are already planning its expansion. Groundbreaking is scheduled for November on property owned by SMH on North Sumter Boulevard near Interstate 75. The Sarasota County Public Hospital Board recently approved an additional $57 million expenditure to add three floors of shell space to the 100-bed hospital and one floor of shell space to an attached medical office building, according to an Aug. 11 news release. This will bring the total project cost to $507 million.

Upon completion, Sarasota Memorial Hospital-North Port will stand nine stories tall, with the adjacent medical office building reaching three stories. Adding shell space now rather than waiting five years or more will enable SMH to quickly double inpatient capacity from 100 to 208 beds and increase medical office space from 60,000 to 90,000 square feet.

“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.

Scheduled to open in fall of 2028, the 100-bed hospital on Sumter Boulevard will offer a range of emergency, medical, surgical and specialty care services, diagnostic and outpatient services, as well as primary and specialty physician practices in the adjacent medical office building.

Long-range master plans for SMH-North Port include a flexible campus design that can expand to more than 400 beds (this would involve a future phase requiring planning, permitting, and funding approvals). For future updates on SMH-North Port, visit the SMH website. Sarasota Memorial Prepares to Clear Land for SMH-North Port and $57 Million Expansion

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