Orlando Health, 3 years after $12M land deal, plans Lakewood Ranch expansion

A health care system with a presence across central Florida, Orlando Health, is looking to expand south along the Gulf Coast. 

Officials with the organization, one of the largest nonprofit hospital systems in Florida, declined to provide details on the project. (The project goes back at least three years, as Orlando Health purchased nearly 32 acres off State Road 70 at Crossland Trail in Lakewood Ranch for $12 million in April 2022, Manatee County property records show.)

While Orlando Health officials were mum on the plans, in a Monday interview a developer building a medical office building nearby on Silver Falls Run says the organization is planning to build a hospital there. Also, a neighboring commercial real estate listing says "there is a pending 31-acre Orlando Health hospital" adjacent to the site.