Health care facility unveils $126M expansion

St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa sped up work on the project to treat surge of COVID-19 patients.

By Business Observer Staff
| 2:31 p.m. September 17, 2020
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Courtesy. St. Josephâ€™s Hospital has officially opened its $126 million expansion that includes a six-story tower, a new main entry and 90 private patient rooms.Â

Tampa Bay-Lakeland

TAMPA — St. Joseph’s Hospital this week cut the ribbon on its $126 million expansion that includes a six-story tower, a new main entry and 90 private patient rooms.

Courtesy. The St. Joseph Hospital expansion project also included the construction of a new pedestrian bridge across Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

According to a press release, work on the project began in April 2018 but accelerated so the hospital could handle an influx of COVID-19 patients. The project also includes a new pedestrian bridge, spanning Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., that connects the main hospital campus to St. Joseph's Women's Hospital.

"When we broke ground on this project in April 2018, we had no idea what 2020 would bring," hospital President Kimberly Guy states in the release. "As it turns out, we're able to provide our community with additional resources in the midst of a global pandemic. We're following in the steps of our founders, the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, who opened the original St. Joseph's Hospital in 1934 during the Great Depression."

St. Joseph's Hospital is part of the BayCare Health System, a nonprofit that owns and operates 15 hospitals throughout Tampa Bay and west central Florida.