Hospital system breaks ground on new North Port facility

Even as Sarasota Memorial Health Care System began clearing land to build the first full-service hospital in North Port, SMH leaders are planning the future expansion of the south county campus. 

During a groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 7, SMH officials revealed plans for the $507 million hospital on a 32-acre site in the 4800 block of North Sumter Boulevard. It will be the city’s first acute-care hospital and the third hospital SMH has built in its 100-year history.

In addition to its main campus near downtown Sarasota, SMH operates a hospital in Venice, which opened in 2021.

When completed in 2028, SMH-North Port will be nine stories tall with an adjacent three-story medical office building. The hospital will open with 100 beds, but will include three floors of finished shell space, which will allow it to double capacity to 208 beds. 

The campus design is flexible, with capacity to increase to more than 400 beds in the future.

“This is a historic milestone for our health system, North Port and the south county region, and we couldn’t be happier to celebrate this landmark moment than during the week of Sarasota Memorial’s centennial,” Sarasota Memorial CEO David Verinder said at the groundbreaking, according to a news release. 

The campus will offer a comprehensive range of emergency, medical, surgical and specialty care; a full complement of diagnostic services; and onsite outpatient services and physician practices. The first floor will include emergency, radiology/imaging, administrative and support services, as well as a cafeteria and coffee bar. The second floor will house surgical and procedural areas, and floors 4-6 will be dedicated patient care units with private rooms for admitted patients. 

The third floor is reserved for mechanical space. Floors 7-9 will be the open shells and finished in a future phase.