AdventHealth intends to develop an 88-bed hospital and office space on land it acquired in World Commerce Center in St. Augustine, according to a St. Johns County Growth Management letter.
Through Advent Health Palm Coast Parkway Inc., the health care provider bought three parcels from World Commerce Center LLP Feb. 5 for $13.4 million. The deed did not specify the acreage or specific location for development.
World Commerce Center is a Development of Regional Impact that comprises nearly 1,000 acres off Interstate 95 and World Golf Parkway about a half-mile east of Florida 16.
AdventHealth bought land in Parcel M, a 21.5-acre site north of Florida 16 along International Golf Parkway where a Walmart Supercenter along with several development outparcels are planned across from Tocoi High School.
The site is 2.3 miles southwest of retailers Buc-ee’s, Costco and Bass Pro Shops.
In the letter dated Dec. 20, St. Johns County Growth Management Assistant Director Transportation Dick D’Souza wrote to Audrey Gregory, executive vice president and East Florida Division CEO of AdventHealth, that the county understood the health care provider plans a hospital at the site marketed as Parcel M.
The letter was sent to Gregory at Memorial Health Systems Inc. which shares an address with AdventHealth Daytona Beach. AdventHealth Director of Strategic Real Estate Keith Lowe was copied.
AdventHealth also operates as Memorial Health Systems Inc., or MHS, after it began acquiring Memorial Health System hospitals in 2000, including Florida Hospital Flagler, Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center and Ormond Beach. It rebranded those in 2018 under the AdventHealth name.
The letter states the county was aware that, upon closing on the property, the health care provider would be granted entitlement rights to construct 249,800 square feet of office land use, including an 80-bed hospital and 80,000 square feet of office space that would be leased to physicians not employed by MHS, AdventHealth or their affiliates.
Additionally, the county said it understood World Commerce Center would grant MHS the freedom to seek additional development rights directly with the county from the master developer.
“The staff has been advised that Memorial Health Systems, Inc. (“MHS”) entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement to purchase approximately 21.5 acres of vacant real property located in World Commerce Center known as “Parcel M,” the letter says.
“MHS has advised the County it intends to develop Parcel M as a medically related healthcare facility and campus that may include, without limitation, a hospital with ancillary uses related thereto that customarily support the operation, maintenance and business of a hospital, an off-site emergency department, a helicopter landing site to support the healthcare facility and campus, medical office uses, commercial/retail uses, and such other related uses determined by MHS to be part of and/or supportive of the health care facility and campus of Parcel M (the “Intended Use”.)”
The letter also said the MHS development is consistent with the property’s zoning.
According to the World Commerce Center website, land there can be used for residential, office, medical, retail, warehouse and hotel developments. It is owned by Jacksonville-based Steinemann & Co. Real Estate.
According to the county, the next step for AdventHealth is to file an application for an Incremental Master Development Plan, a strategy where a large-scale project is built in phases rather than all at once. It does not require a public meeting or hearing. Staff will review it. It said the MDP can be reviewed concurrently with required engineering and construction plans.
AdventHealth is headquartered in Altamonte Springs. Founded in 1973, it reported revenue of $18 billion in 2023. It has facilities in nine states. It is a nonprofit Seventh-Day Adventist organization and the largest not-for-profit Protestant health care provider in the country.
Its Florida locations are mainly in Central Florida.
It operates 51 hospitals and several hundred care sites, according to its website.
In September, AdventHealth announced it was building a 12-bed off-site emergency department in St. Johns County that is set to open in 2026. The 10.75-acre site is on north Florida 207 south of San Juan Road in St. Augustine. It is about 1.6 miles northeast of Interstate 95.
“Growing with our communities is a core priority for AdventHealth,” Communications Manager Michelle Bartlome said in a statement.
“As we explore opportunities to create new access points to health care services, we often examine properties in various markets for a multitude of opportunities, both for the short term and long term.”
Bartlome could not provide a development timeline or project site plan.
AdventHealth has had facilities in Flagler County for more than 20 years. It invested more than $200 million in its health care infrastructure in the county in 2023.
