Medical center announces $120 million project

Lakewood Ranch Medical Center is expanding in the form of a $120 million project. 

The new addition, a five-story tower, will bring 60 patient beds and expand departments like pharmacy, laboratory, education, pre-admission testing, and food and nutrition services. Currently, the acute-care hospital has 120 beds.

The 170,000-square-foot tower is the first phase of many planned over the next several years for facility expansion. Future expansion opportunities include the potential of two more floors in the tower as well as 60 additional patient beds.   

The first phase is expected to create about 100 new jobs. According to a story by Business Observer sister paper East County Observer, the medical center currently has a staff of over 1,200 between employees and medical staff. Pre-construction work is set to begin in 2023 with the anticipation that it’ll be completed in 2025. 

“The significant population growth we’ve experienced since 2016, and projected growth during the next several years, are driving the need for this expansion,” Andy Guz, CEO, says in a release. “We are looking forward to expanding our capacity so we can continue to provide high-quality care that meets the medical needs of our community.”

The medical center provides cardiovascular, surgical and orthopedics care as well as stroke, maternity and obstetrical care, intensive care, and emergency services.

The organization has been on a path of expansion in the past few years with a $28.5 million expansion in 2019 that included two new operating rooms, an additional heart catheterization lab, a new advanced MRI system, and an expanded and enhanced surgical waiting area, preoperative space and post-surgical space.

It also celebrated a groundbreaking in 2020 with a 18,000 square foot freestanding emergency room on Fruitville Road. The hospital's Women's Center has also been recently upgraded and renovated.