Florida Medical Center Gets $229M Facelift

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

Rendering of Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, Fla.

Skanska USA, in a joint venture with Gates Construction, is underway with a $229 million, 365,700-square-foot expansion and 48,500-square-foot renovation of the Gulf Coast Medical Center, a leading health-care facility in Fort Myers, Fla., on behalf of Lee Health.

Upon completion in 2021, the expansion project will consist of three new floors with 216 patient rooms and 52 intensive care unit rooms.

“Over the years, Skanska has had the privilege to partner with Gulf Coast Medical Center to help the hospital expand and meet growing health-care needs in the Fort Myers community,” Michael C. Brown, Skanska’s executive vice president & general manager of USA building operations in Florida, said in a prepared statement. “With our latest project with Lee Health, we will continue to showcase our team’s expertise in health-care construction to further enhance and grow the hospital’s state-of-the-art facilities.”

Construction in the Sunshine State

In March, Brown spoke to Commercial Property Executive about the Sunshine State’s construction sector and noted it has been extremely active in recent years, as demand for commercial development, public sector projects and infrastructure upgrades rises.

“The demand for skilled labor from across the state puts upward pressure on subcontractor pricing,” he said at the time. “Overall, Florida added 43,900 construction jobs over the past 12 months, according to data from the Associated General Contractors of America. Many skilled employees are in search of careers that open the door to a diverse set of projects over the long-term—as opposed to a short-term position on a single project. This gives firms like Skanska a built-in advantage.”

Scope of Project

The current Gulf Coast Medical Center project also included a 1,300-space parking garage, which was built during phase one of the construction last August.

Architecture firm HKS, Inc. designed the project, which will include an expansion of the emergency department, clinical laboratory, radiology department, dining services and the central energy plant. Gulf Coast Medical Center’s bed capacity will grow from 356 to 624 once finished.

A Leader in Health-care Construction

Skanska is currently building several health-care construction projects in Florida, including the renovation at the Salah Foundation Children’s Hospital and an expansion at Broward Health North, both located in Broward County.

Last year, the University of South Florida hired Skanska to build the $41 million Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute tower in Tampa, Fla.

It also completed a major expansion of UF Health Shands’ Cardiovascular and Neuroscience Hospital in Gainesville last November.

Image courtesy of Skanska