Hospital embarks on historic $256M expansion

TAMPA — Florida Hospital Tampa, part of Adventist Health System, has broken ground on a six-story, 300,000-square-foot patient and surgical tower at the corner of Fletcher Avenue and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in Tampa.

The $256 million expansion project will be known as the Taneja Center for Innovative Surgery and is slated to open in 2021. According to a press release, it will feature 24 new operating rooms, a new hospital entrance and more than 100 private dedicated surgical care beds. It will create an estimated 117 clinical jobs in its first year of operation, and 587 jobs by the fifth year, the release states.

“This is a state-of-the-art project that will provide specialty care in Tampa Bay that you can’t find anywhere else in our area,” states Brian Adams, president and CEO of Florida Hospital Tampa, in the release. “Our goal is to design a surgical tower that isn’t just relevant today, but will be relevant 30 years from now, combining surgical innovation and the most advanced robotic technologies with the nation’s best physicians.”

The family of Jugal and Manju Taneja provided a generous gift toward the expansion project — the largest donation ever to the hospital’s west Florida division.

“This is about more than growth and expansion,” states Mike Schultz, president and CEO of Florida Hospital West Florida Division, in the release. “This is about connecting our community to the kind of expert health care that’s needed and delivering it with Florida Hospital’s unique brand of inspired, compassionate care.”