VENICE

HCA Florida Englewood Hospital eyes expansion into North Port

New 30-acre site is across the street from North Port's new public safety facility in Wellen Park

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

HCA Florida Englewood Hospital is seeking to expand its presence in North Port, following the April purchase of almost 30 acres in Wellen Park for $11.125 million.

NORTH PORT – HCA Florida Healthcare recently closed on an $11.1 million purchase of almost 30 acres of property on the south side of Tamiami Trail in Wellen Park, a move that would expand the reach of HCA Florida Englewood Hospital into North Port.

The parcel is on the southeast corner of Tamiami Trail and Preto Boulevard, across the street from the new North Port public safety complex that opened last April.

It was purchased from Main Street Ranchlands LLLC on April 28, according to the warranty deed.

HCA Florida Englewood Hospital confirmed in a response to an email that it would build a free-standing emergency department on the property.

“We look forward to bringing a free-standing emergency center to the rapidly growing Wellen Park area and are excited with it being part of a well-planned community designed around improving healthcare access,” Steve Young, Chief Executive Officer of HCA Florida Englewood Hospital, said in a prepared statement. “From emergency care to hospital care, we will continue to build to match the healthcare needs of the community as it grows.”

Wellen Park, west of the Myakka River in North Port, routinely ranks among the fastest-selling master planned communities in the country.

HCA Florida Englewood Hospital recently purchased almost 30 acres at the intersection of Preto Boulevard and Tamiami Trail in the Wellen Park section of North Port with an eye on expanding its healthcare footprint in North Port.

HCA Healthcare owns two hospitals in Sarasota County, including HCA Sarasota Doctors Hospital. It also owns HCA Florida Blake Hospital in Manatee County and HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital in Charlotte County.

Health care access in south Sarasota County was bolstered by the November 2021 opening of the Sarasota Memorial Hospital Venice campus, then drastically cut last August, when Community Health Systems Inc started to close Shore Point Health Venice hospital.

The closure of the 312-bed facility meant an increase in patient flow at SMH Venice and longer travel times for residents in areas such as South Venice, Venice Gardens, Venice East and Plantation Golf & Country Club who had to travel to either the 110-bed SMH campus on Laurel Road or the 100-bed HCA Florida Englewood Hospital for care.

Expanded south Sarasota County care

HCA Florida opened a medical office in the West Villages Shopping Center last April and the emergency department at HCA Florida Englewood Hospital, 700 Medical Blvd. Englewood was expanded from 8 to 18 beds in December as part of a $10 million expansion project.

The HCA release said specific details will be released as plans are finalized but North Port District 5 City Commissioner Phil Stokes would not be surprised if the “hospital care” mentioned by Young quickly followed the free-standing emergency center.

Stokes said he had conversations with officials at the West Villages Improvement District that suggest HCA’s long–term plans would include a hospital developed on the same schedule – if not ahead of – Sarasota Memorial Health Care System’s plans to build a hospital on 32 acres it owns off of the Sumter Boulevard Exit off of Interstate 75.

Sarasota Memorial is in the due diligence phase of building a facility on that 32-acre site.

Hurricane Ian – which has been characterized as a 500-year flood event – revealed the need to elevate access roads to the parcel, to ensure future flooding did not cut off access to such a facility.

Prior to Hurricane Ian, SMH had eyed a 2025 groundbreaking for its North Port hospital.

SMH also owns a 27.8-acre site at the southwest corner of U.S. 41 and West Villages Parkway in Wellen Park and has contemplated building an out-patient facility there, as well as revamping its free-standing emergency room at Bobcat Village off of Toledo Blade Boulevard.

All those plans will likely be impacted by HCA’s next moves in Wellen Park.

Increasing need

Stokes pointed to the continued development in Wellen Park as well as an anticipated 9,000 homes in Winchester Ranch – the portion of the former Thomas Ranch in unincorporated Sarasota County – as justification for two hospitals.

Earlier:Winchester Ranch plan for 9,000 homes advances in Sarasota County

“We seem to need it, the demographics support it,” Stokes said.

For the better part of two decades North Port city officials have been hoping to attract at least one hospital to the city but that was frequently stymied by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration certificate of need program that required justification for new hospital beds.

SMH technically transferred beds from its Sarasota campus to the Venice campus when it received approval for that hospital.

Florida did away with the requirement in 2019.