80-bed hospital to heal south Lee County

BONITA SPRINGS — Lee Memorial Health System plans to build an 80-bed hospital in south Lee County to serve the residents of Bonita Springs and Estero.

The Fort Myers-based hospital system filed a letter of intent with the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, which must approve the application. Lee Memorial owns 33 acres near Coconut Point mall off U.S. 41, where it plans to locate the new hospital.

“We purchased the land during the boom years with the intent of one day building a hospital on it, but the economic downturn slowed those plans,” says Jim Nathan, president of Lee Memorial Health System, in a statement.

Lee Memorial also operates the nearby Bonita Springs Community Health Center in a joint venture with Naples-based NCH Healthcare. It offers a wide spectrum of health services, including urgent care, physician offices, diagnostic testing and same-day surgery.

Additional details, such as the cost of the project or a timetable, were not disclosed.
 
“We have a tremendous amount of work to do in planning and development,” says Nathan. “We look forward to partnering with the local community as we move forward with our long-standing plans to build a hospital in the Bonita-Estero area.”