BayCare Breaks Ground for St. Joseph's Hospital-South

During a groundbreaking event today in Riverview, nearly 100 business leaders, neighbors and elected officials celebrated the construction of St. Joseph's Hospital-South, the first not-for-profit hospital built to serve southern Hillsborough County.

The hospital is expected to set a new standard of care when it opens in 2015, bringing the latest in health care technology and design together with the medical excellence and compassion historically provided by St. Joseph's Hospitals.

"When St. Joseph's builds a health care facility, we don't merely build a building," said Sr. Patricia Shirley, OSF, vice president of mission services. "We build a community of women and men who are committed to serve, to use their hearts and their hands for healing."

St. Joseph's Hospital-South, part of BayCare Health System, will be a full-service hospital offering a wide range of services from emergency care and women's services to surgery and intensive care.

The 72-acre campus will include a medical office building that connects to the four-story, 352,000-square-foot hospital for convenient access to pre-procedure testing and physician offices. The site also will be home to a 40,000 square-foot, free-standing physician office building, which is expected to open in 2013 with imaging and laboratory services as well as primary care and specialty physician offices.

In addition to providing excellent health care to area residents, this project is expected to be a welcome addition to the business community.

"Think about it: $225 million invested here and the ripple effect that will have," said Congresswoman Kathy Castor. "First: construction jobs, boosting small business throughout the community. Then, the medical professionals that will move here and their families that will grow up here. This hospital is going to be an anchor for economic development for the SouthShore community and all of southern Hillsborough County."

Hospital president and CEO, Isaac Mallah, said his staff has worked more than seven years to get the necessary approvals to build the hospital. But the idea to build in this location was conceived in the mid 1980s, when the land was first purchased by hospital visionaries.

"As I stand here today, I am struck by what it took to get here," Mallah said as construction vehicles worked in the distance. "We are here today thanks to the perseverance of our team and the great support of our neighbors and friends from here to Sun City Center."

Among the dignitaries who attended the event were hospital board members and executives including BayCare President and CEO Steve Mason; community leaders including Ed Barnes, president of the Sun City Center Community Association, Eileen Peco, president, Federation of Kings Point; representatives from the Greater Riverview, SouthShore and Sun City Center chambers of commerce; and elected officials including Castor, Congressman Tom Rooney and State Representative Dana Young.

Castor, who summed up the sentiment of the crowd, said, "For the jobs and economic opportunities, for the health and innovation opportunities, but most importantly for the investment in our families and care you will provide, thank you, BayCare and St. Joseph's for this wonderful and exciting groundbreaking."

St. Joseph's Hospital-South is now under construction at 6901 Simmons Loop Road in Riverview, Fla., and is easily accessible via I-75 and Highway 301. The campus begins at the intersection of Big Bend Road and Simmons Loop Road, approximately one-half mile east of I-75.