Lakewood Ranch Healthpark project preparing to break ground

Sarasota Orthopedic Associates intends to occupy 10,000 square feet in the planned Lakewood Ranch Healthpark, bringing pre-construction leasing commitments there to nearly 50% of the total project.

The orthopedic group intends to more than double its space when it moves to the ground floor of the Optimal Outcomes LLC project, which is slated to begin construction in the coming weeks.

The 46,000-square-foot project — among the first to anchor a planned 265-acre health- and life sciences business park called C.O.R.E. from Lakewood Ranch Commercial Realty — will also be occupied by Florida Cancer Specialists. That practice signed a 10-year lease, similar in length to Sarasota Orthopedic’s, for roughly half of the building’s second floor.

Optimal Outcomes and CNK Realty, the Bradenton commercial brokerage handling leasing for the five-acre project, has designated the remaining rentable space on the ground floor for either a surgery or diagnostic imaging center.

It is expected Lakewood Ranch Healthpark will be the first new Class A medical office buildings developed in the 31,000-acre master-planned community since the Lakewood Ranch Medical Center campus debuted more than a decade ago.

“This will give Sarasota Orthopedic a bigger space from which to operate, and a significant presence in a dedicated medical office building,” says Ken Hughes, CNK Realty’s president.

“Being on the first floor will give their patients easier access to them, and the larger space will give the practice the ability to offer additional services, such as physical therapy.”