Sarasota Memorial Hospital leaders gathered this week to celebrate the first step in building a new state-of-the-art behavioral health pavilion on its Sarasota campus. Demolition of the 1960s-era Bayside East, which previously housed SMH behavioral health administrative offices and outpatient services, began on June 8 to clear the way for a new 82-bed, 95,000-square-foot facility that will be built on the east side of Osprey Avenue between Waldemere and Hawthorne streets. 

The current Bayside Hospital on the west side of Osprey will remain open until the new building is complete; outpatient programs have been temporarily relocated. Construction is expected to begin early next year and wrap up in 2023.