APOPKA, Fla. — After 40 years in Apopka, Florida Hospital is preparing to break ground on a new facility.
City leaders held a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the project on Tuesday.
Florida Hospital Apopka owns 70 acres of land near Highway 429 and Highway 414. The hospital is building the new facility on 33 of those acres, leaving room for growth in the future. The new location will be near the intersection of Harmon and Ocoee-Apopka roads.
The hospital's vice president said many of its patients who needed services that Florida Hospital Apopka can't offer have been transferred.
"We transfer 50 percent of our inpatients to hospitals miles away from this community," Vice President Jennifer Wandersleben said.
But with the new hospital, which is expected to be completed in 2017, that will change.
The new construction will bring the hospital down to only about 15 percent of patients having to be transferred, which officials said is about average for a community hospital.
In addition, Apopka Mayor Joe Kilsheimer said it is the beginning of a lot of economic growth in the area, not only at the hospital, but for the businesses that he said will follow.
"This hospital is going to create 300 jobs, jobs that can't be outsourced. It's going to be a magnet for economic opportunity in this entire neighborhood around the hospital. It's going to be the signature architectural element for tourists as they drive up State Road 429," Kilsheimer said.
Leaders said they believe the new hospital will be in a prime location. The city commissioned an area study that could help bring a town center with restaurants and business to the community.
"This is going to be a transformative project for the city of Apopka," Kilsheimer said.
WFTV
