Sept. 22, 2026 – With the four-county region expected to grow from approximately 1.2 million residents today to nearly 1.8 million over the next 25 years, Sarasota Memorial Health Care System (SMH) is moving forward with plans to acquire approximately 120 acres in Manatee County’s fast-growing State Road 64 corridor.
Located within Sarasota Memorial’s four-county primary service area, the property just east of I-75 provides flexibility to meet both current and future healthcare needs and will help ensure the region’s only public, not-for-profit health system keeps pace with one of Southwest Florida’s fastest-growing communities.
Approved by the Sarasota County Public Hospital Board on Tuesday, the nearly $60 million land deal is contingent upon SMH working with Manatee County officials and community leaders to rezone and develop a future campus on the site. In July, the Hospital Board also approved acquiring a 10-acre adjacent parcel with direct access to SR 64.
“This investment reflects the kind of long-range planning that has allowed Sarasota Memorial to serve our region for more than a century,” said David Verinder, CEO of Sarasota Memorial Health Care System. “Healthcare infrastructure takes years to plan and build. Securing strategically located property today allows us to improve our capacity to care for the community now, while enhancing access for future generations.”
Future development would occur in phases, guided by community need and local, regional and state regulatory approvals.
Pending local government and site development approvals, the first phase of SMH’s Manatee campus would include a freestanding emergency department on the 10-acre parcel. Subsequent phases may include primary and specialty physician practices, pediatric specialty care, imaging, diagnostic and laboratory services, and other medical buildings to support a full-service hospital campus.
The Manatee expansion is driven by both population growth and increasing patient demand. In Sarasota Memorial’s primary service area – Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte and DeSoto counties – Manatee County is expected to lead overall population growth, at 9.6% projected over the next 5 years. The greatest concentration of growth is expected to occur in neighborhoods around the SR 64 corridor, including Parrish, Palmetto and Lakewood Ranch.
The proposed land acquisition is not based solely on future projections. In 2025, Manatee County residents accounted for more than 185,000 patients, roughly 25% of SMH’s overall volume. And since 2020, patient volume at Sarasota Memorial’s existing outpatient facility in Heritage Harbour has more than doubled. Expanding access in Manatee County will help relieve capacity pressures at SMH-Sarasota, where beds, emergency services, parking and other hospital resources are frequently operating at or near capacity. As more routine, emergency and specialty care becomes available closer to home for Manatee County residents, fewer patients will need to travel to the Sarasota campus for services that can be provided in their own community. That will help expand capacity at the flagship Sarasota hospital for patients who need its highly specialized and complex levels of care.
The investment also supports Sarasota Memorial’s long-term workforce strategy. Nearly 3,500 employees – roughly 30 percent of the health system’s workforce – live in Manatee County, making it an important source of the nurses, physicians, therapists, technicians and other healthcare professionals who care for patients throughout the region.
As the largest employer in Sarasota, Manatee and the four-county region, Verinder said Sarasota Memorial must plan not only for where future patients will live, but also where its workforce lives and how it can provide employment opportunities closer to home.
“County boundaries do not define where patients seek care or where healthcare professionals choose to live and work,” he added. “Our responsibility is to plan for the communities we already serve today and the communities we know will continue to grow tomorrow.”
Hospital Board Chair Kevin Cooper said purchasing land before development accelerates is part of the Board’s responsibility to support the community’s long-term healthcare needs.
SMH has a proven track record of making strategic land investments along the I-75 corridor well ahead of community growth. The health system purchased its Laurel Road property in 2005, years before opening SMH-Venice in 2021, and acquired its Sumter Boulevard property in 2007, laying the groundwork for SMH-North Port, which is under construction and expected to open in 2028.
Likewise, he said, SMH’s investment in Manatee County will better position the health system to serve its growing patient population in the northern reaches of its service area.
“The mission of the Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is to provide healthcare services that excel in caring, quality and innovation,” Cooper said. “That focus has been central to our future planning, which is aimed at ensuring and protecting future access to world-class healthcare throughout our region.”
The only public, community-owned health system in the region, SMH’s expansion and facilities outside of Sarasota County are funded through operating revenue and designed to be financially self-sustaining. Ad valorem tax revenue collected in Sarasota County makes up less than 5% of SMH’s operating revenue and is used exclusively to support facilities, services and care within Sarasota County.
About Sarasota Memorial Health Care System (smh.com)
Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is a regional medical center offering Southwest Florida’s greatest breadth and depth of care, with about 2,500 physicians and advanced practice providers, 11,000 employees and 2 million patient visits a year across its network of care. Sarasota County’s largest employer, the community-owned health system includes two full-service hospitals in Sarasota and Venice (and third under construction in North Port), freestanding ERs in North Port and Lakewood Ranch, a rehabilitation hospital, skilled nursing facility and comprehensive network of outpatient centers, urgent care clinics and First Physician Group primary and specialty care practices. Founded in 1925, SMH’s flagship Sarasota campus also is home to the Brian D. Jellison Cancer Institute, Cornell Behavioral Health Pavilion and Kolschowsky Research and Education Institute. Both Sarasota Memorial Hospital-Sarasota and Sarasota Memorial Hospital-Venice have earned the highest 5-Star quality ratings from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The SMH-Sarasota is the only Florida hospital – and one of just 11 in the nation — to earn a perfect 5-Star rating from CMS every year since the federal rating program began in 2016.
