By Tamas Mondovics
BayCare Health System has managed to close the year with the announcement of investing $308 million into the Hillsborough County community with the expansion of three of its hospitals. St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, St. Joseph’s Hospital-North in Lutz and St. Joseph’s Hospital-South, will see an increase in the size of each facility as well as the number of medical specialties.
According to BayCare officials, St.Joseph’s Hospital-South, (SJHS) a 360,000-sq. ft., $225 million facility, located at 6901 Simmons Loop, Riverview that sits on a 72-acre property will see a two-phased expansion totaling $112 million.
The first phase ($74 million) includes a new five-story building; a 25-bed emergency department expansion with CT, x-ray, and ultrasound as well as an 18-bed observation unit.
There will be a build-out of one existing shelled operating room and one existing shelled catheterization lab.
Plans also call for additional space reserved for future growth.
Phase two ($38 million) includes a build-out of two additional medical and surgical floors, along with an addition of NICU and pediatric services with 10 NICU, 12 pediatric and 12 pediatric progressive care unit patient rooms.
The expansion also calls for 36 medical and surgical patient rooms, and the relocation and renovation of ancillary spaces.
“At BayCare, we are always evaluating the current and future needs of our community,” said Kimberly Guy, president of St. Joseph’s Hospital and BayCare’s market leader for Hillsborough County. “The greater Tampa Bay area continues to be a popular destination, and these expansions will allow us to not only meet its rapid population growth but also better serve the medical needs of our neighbors by increasing our medical specialties and services.”
Hospital officials said that all three projects have been approved or are in the approval process by city and county planning officials, with construction beginning in 2018.
Residents can expect completion of all three projects, by the end of 2020.
Phase one of SJHS expansion is expected completion in April 2019, followed by phase two in December 2020.
BayCare currently boasts of 14 hospitals and hundreds of other convenient locations throughout the Tampa Bay and west central Florida regions.
For more information, visit www.BayCare.org.
