The 65-acre Laurel Road campus is designed to be flexible and expandable without impacting current operations. 
 
 width=Venice, FL – Gilbane Building and Sarasota Memorial Health Care System marked a major milestone with the topping out of the Venice Campus Bed Tower expansion. Opening in 2024, the new patient tower will add 102 new private patient rooms to the Venice hospital, with dedicated surgical, cardiac, and orthopedic units and expanded space for clinical and support departments.

“Gilbane is excited to celebrate the on-time topping-out milestone as construction continues to progress towards the planned opening next year,” said Cary Shippert, Vice President, Southeast Director of Healthcare and Science/Technology, Gilbane Building Company. “Utilizing lean and prefabrication initiatives, the project team continues to provide accelerated, on-time delivery of each project.  Assisting our client through a phased transition process will help them open their facility quickly to meet the rising demand for health care in southwest Florida.”

Meanwhile, Sarasota Memorial is also moving forward with expanding the Venice Hospital’s Emergency Care Center and surgical division to double capacity in those areas.

“These are critical expansions that will improve access and care for the entire region,” said Sarasota Memorial CEO David Verinder. “The new tower will nearly double the Venice hospital’s capacity, to more than 200 beds and help meet current and future needs in the community.”

Master planned and designed by Flad Architects, the 65-acre Laurel Road campus is designed for future growth, which includes doubling in size to 400 private inpatient suites, 16 surgical suites, and a 50-bed ER without compromising current operations. The SMH Venice project has won numerous design awards and a recent Construction Award of Merit for “Best Projects” from ENR magazine.

About Sarasota Memorial Health Care System / SMH-Venice

Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, offering Southwest Florida’s greatest breadth and depth of care, provides services for more than 1 million patients annually across its two hospital campuses, freestanding ER, and network of outpatient and urgent care centers. Founded in 1925, the system’s 901-bed flagship facility, Sarasota Memorial Hospital-Sarasota, is a regional referral center for highly specialized care, including trauma, oncology, orthopedic, neonatal intensive care, pediatrics, and acute behavioral health services. SMH-Venice, the health system’s second acute-care hospital, is a full-service hospital that opened in November 2021 to serve the rapidly growing south Sarasota County region. Located at the intersection of Laurel Road East and Pinebrook Road, SMH-Venice is equipped to offer a full array of hospital services, from emergency and intensive care to specialized surgery and care for cardiac, stroke, orthopedic, obstetrical patients, and more. Visit smhvenice.com to learn more.

About Gilbane Building Company

Gilbane provides a full slate of construction and facilities-related services – from preconstruction services planning and integrated consulting capabilities to comprehensive construction management, general contracting, design-build, and facility management services – for clients across various markets. Founded in 1870 and still a privately held, family-owned company, Gilbane has more than 45 office locations worldwide.

Gilbane is an industry leader in Florida with a reputation for quality construction and client satisfaction. Gilbane has provided construction management services in Florida for over fifty years, working across diverse markets, including office buildings, public assembly/sports, healthcare, life sciences, data centers, K-12, higher education, medical offices, industrial, manufacturing, government, and multi-family developments. For more information, visit www.gilbaneco.com.