Hospital prescribes $12M project to aid growth

SARASOTA — Sarasota Memorial Hospital is preparing to undertake a $12 million parking garage project that will add up to 600 spaces.

The project would be a five-story structure at 1801 Arlington St., in the Southside Village/Hillview area south of downtown Sarasota, according to the Sarasota Observer, sister paper of the Business Observer. The city of Sarasota Development Review Committee recently reviewed plans for the garage, the first step toward gaining approval. Once approved, SMH hopes to complete construction by December 2018. Hospital spokeswoman Kim Savage says the garage should address SMH's parking needs for the next five to 10 years.

The additional parking spots address the ongoing shortage, SMH officials say, according to the Sarasota Observer story. The number of admissions and observation cases at its main campus has increased 32% during the past five years, for example. And Sarasota Memorial COO Lorrie Lang, in a December report, provided an update on the hospital's parking needs to the Sarasota County Hospital Board. The hospital campus has more than 3,100 spaces in four parking garages, but a survey in October showed as few as 15 available spaces at 11 a.m. on weekdays.

That month, the hospital began an off-site parking program, shuttling in employees from a garage at Bahia Vista Street and Tuttle Avenue. But the Hospital Board also approved a long-term solution, signing off on the new garage at the west end of the campus.