TOP STORY, NOV.: TideWell expands in Ranch

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ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED NOV. 26, 2009.

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Sarasota-based non-profit TideWell Hospice will move several of its departments to the East County following its purchase of the two-story building that houses its Lakewood Ranch office.

The non-profit purchased the building at 6310 Capital Drive for $6.55 million. The purchase price equated to $179 per square foot of building space. TideWell Hospice has occupied a quarter of the building’s first floor since the 36,652-square-foot building opened in 2003. The building was sold in November 2001 for $968,000.

TideWell plans to move its marketing/communications, triage, pharmacy, admissions access center and resource physicians departments into the building taking an additional quarter of the second floor.

TideWell will continue to locate its human resources and education departments and its clinical teams in the building. The hospice plans to renovate the top floor space for a move-in in early December.

Progressive Insurance, Bank of America (Countryside Home Loans) and Starwood Land Ventures also lease space in the building. The Hospice expects to have 7,000 square feet available for lease.

“We primarily felt it was a smart investment on our part,” says Dave Glaser, director of communications. “Like many other healthcare providers, we are anticipating cuts in reimbursement. So we felt this would be a good way to safeguard our resources from things like inflation. It will also offer us a new revenue stream from the rentable space. We will be moving six departments there from our main office on Rand Boulevard, which has been getting pretty crowded.”

TideWell provides home-based palliative care, including support from physicians, nurses, social counselors, home health aides and volunteers. It is one of the largest programs of its kind in the country and serves more than 1,200 patients daily in Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte and DeSoto counties. The services are available to everyone regardless of ability to pay.

For information, visit www.tidewell.org or call the Lakewood Ranch office at 552-5900.

Contact Sean Roth at [email protected].