The Sarasota County Public Hospital Board has approved a $450 million plan to build North Port’s first hospital.

The six-story, 100-bed hospital on North Sumter Boulevard will be built on an undeveloped, 32-acre parcel that Sarasota Memorial Health Care System (SMH) owns. The North Port campus will be the health system’s third acute-care hospital, fulfilling a long-standing request from the City of North Port for a hospital of its own. With more than 95,000 residents, North Port is the largest city in Sarasota County, both in land mass and population, and one of the fastest growing in the nation.

“Building a hospital in North Port has been part of our strategic plan and goals for many years,” SMH president and CEO David Verinder said after Tuesday’s hospital board vote. “It has taken time to build the medical infrastructure necessary to support the city’s first hospital, but we feel confident moving forward that we have the commitment and resources to ensure its success.”

Hospital staff worked with North Port and other regulatory officials throughout 2024 to obtain the initial approvals needed to begin developing a medical campus on the Sumter Boulevard site. The plan approved this week reflects the first phase of development, which includes a hurricane-hardened, 305,000-square-foot hospital; 60,000-square-foot medical office building; and back-up energy center. The hospital will offer comprehensive emergency, medical, surgical and specialty care, a full complement of diagnostic and outpatient services, and primary and specialty physician practices in the adjacent medical office building.

The first floor of the hospital will include emergency, diagnostic, administrative and support services. The second floor will house surgical and procedural areas, and floors three to five will be dedicated to the 100 private patient care units. The sixth will be used for mechanical space and to provide infrastructure that will ultimately allow SMH to add three more patient care floors and expand the hospital capacity to 208 beds.

Site preparation will start immediately, followed by a groundbreaking ceremony later this year. SMH leaders expect it will take approximately 30 months to complete construction; the hospital is currently slated to open in the fall of 2028.

“This is a landmark step for North Port,” North Port city manager Jerome Fletcher said after the hospital board vote. “The quality health care so many North Port residents have desired for years is finally on its way to our community, along with new career opportunities for our workforce. The city is committed to working with SMH through the development process to bring this project to life.”

This summer, the hospital board will also review and update plans for its Wellen Park campus and its existing freestanding emergency room and healthcare center on Toledo Blade Boulevard.

For future updates on the new hospital and health care facilities in North Port, click here.