Add Kissimmee to the growing list of Central Florida communities slated to get new inpatient health care facilities this year.
Encompass Health has a purchase contract for a 7.4 acre parcel at the southwest corner of Calypso Cay Way and S.R. 535 (Vineland Road), immediately north of the Embassy Suites hotel, and across from Lennar’s Storey Lake Resort.
Spokeswoman Hillary Carnel said the company plans to build an 80-bed rehabilitation hospital beginning with 50 private rooms in Phase 1. The company has requested a pre-application meeting this month with Osceola County’s Development Review Committee. It will likely need to seek a major PD amendment for the institutional use in the Calypso Cay planned development. The site was previously under contract for retail development, but that project never moved forward.
“Kissimmee has a growing population, and services at this planned hospital will greatly benefit the increase of residents and complement the exceptional health care services provided in the area,” Carnel said. “This hospital will, in turn, allow residents to have more options for high-quality, specialized health care closer to home.”
Last month the Clermont City Council approved a rezoning request that clears the way for Encompass Health to build a similar hospital on S.R. 50.
The future hospital will offer physical, occupational and speech therapies, and 24-hour nursing care, to restore functional ability and quality of life. It will care for patients recovering from debilitating illnesses and injuries including strokes and other neurological disorders, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, amputations and complex orthopedic conditions. Care will be provided by highly specialized nurses, therapists and physicians.
The hospital will feature all private patient rooms, a therapy gym with advanced rehabilitation technologies and an “activities of daily living” suite, cafeteria, dining room, pharmacy and therapy courtyard. The gym would be expanded in the project’s second phase, which also includes 30 additional patient rooms.
Encompass Health is the largest owner and operator of inpatient rehabilitation facilities, with a national footprint that includes 136 hospitals, 245 home health locations, and 83 hospice locations in 39 states and Puerto Rico. The company’s Florida footprint currently includes 12 inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, 19 home health locations, one hospital under construction in north Tampa. Additional planned hospitals have also been announced for Lakeland, Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Pensacola and Cape Coral within the last year.
Florida has experienced a rapid expansion of specialty and acute care hospitals since 2019 since the state repealed the law that required hospitals to apply for a Certificate of Need for new inpatient facilities and expansions.
Another market player, Eerie, Pennsylvania-based Post Acute Medical (PAM), is also growing its Florida portfolio. Last week, the company and its development partner, Catalyst Healthcare Real Estate, filed construction plans for a 50,000-square-foot rehabilitation hospital in Tavares. The site is within the Lakeview medical office park, across U.S. 441 from AdventHealth Waterman campus.
Catalyst HRE has a purchase contract for 5.7 acres, plus options for two additional lots, which would bring the total price to just over $2 million. PAM is also building rehabilitation hospitals in Jupiter and Venice.
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at lkinsler@GrowthSpotter.com or (407) 420-6261, or tweet me at @byLauraKinsler. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
