FL: Health First Breaks Ground on the Cape Canaveral Hospital and Medical Office Building

Gilbane was thrilled to join the groundbreaking celebration during '3-2-1 Day' in Brevard County, a special tribute to the region's 3-2-1 area code and thriving aerospace/technology industry. Collaborating with project partners, Lawrence Group, Concord Group, and BCER, for design, project management, and engineering, this facility will replace the current Cape Canaveral Hospital, providing the Brevard community with convenient access to modern medical treatments and wellness programs. The new hospital is poised to elevate healthcare services on Florida's space coast.

Expected to cost approximately $410 million, construction is slated to finish by the end of 2026, and the hospital will officially open to the public in early 2027.

The new 268,000-square-foot Cape Canaveral Hospital will include:

•     120 private inpatient beds
•     25 Emergency Department treatment rooms
•     6 Operating Rooms

"We're thrilled to begin work on a facility that will greatly benefit the residents of Brevard County and beyond," expressed Shane Burnsed, Central Florida Business Leader. "Recognizing the evolving landscape of healthcare, we're committed to constructing top-notch facilities that caters to the changing needs of patients, ensuring efficient and patient-centered care."

The Lawrence Group has designed the hospital to withstand a Category 4 hurricane. Continuation of care and the potential for evacuation will be evaluated for individual storms in consultation with state officials. The entire campus site will also be constructed 13 feet above sea level to withstand storm surges. The campus will be served by an on-site central energy plant, built to ensure continuous power function even during tropical storms and hurricanes.

"Gilbane has been a wonderful partner on this project with its highly functioning and collaborative team. Throughout the process, we worked seamlessly with Gilbane to ensure our entire design and construction team focused solely on fulfilling the owner's goals and objectives. We have truly enjoyed our work with them and their subcontractors in delivering the best value to Health First for their replacement hospital," said Lawrence Group President Mike Schnaare.

The campus will feature ample parking, including 296 paved/surface parking spots and 533 covered/structure parking spots. The three-deck parking structure and surface parking spots will provide easy and convenient access to the campus.

"We are happy to celebrate where we come from. Cape Canaveral Hospital opened its doors to our community on July 22, 1962. It was the first and only hospital to serve the beach and barrier island communities in Brevard County at the time," said Health First Board Chair Kent Smith.

"Since then, Cape has received numerous awards, accreditations, and recognitions and was most recently named to Newsweek's "Best Hospitals" list for the fourth year in a row, and we're not done yet," Smith continued. "This new project has been in the works for a long time – and it truly speaks to Health First's vision, mission, and strategy to set our community up for success today and beyond. We are focused on caring for the exact needs of our community, and this moment reminds us of that."

The new project will also include a new 3-story, 92,000-square-foot medical office building. Construction is expected to be completed by late 2026 and begin serving our community in early 2027 – simultaneously with the new Cape Canaveral Hospital.

The groundbreaking for the new Cape Canaveral Hospital campus comes just two weeks after 'Newsweek' named Cape Canaveral Hospital to its "Best Hospitals" list for 2024 – the fourth straight year Cape Canaveral has landed on the prestigious list – joining just two other Central Florida hospitals and 17 across the entire state of Florida.

"This Newsweek inclusion placing Cape Canaveral Hospital among the best hospitals in the nation and state of Florida is a tremendous honor for every one of our clinicians, associates, and volunteers, and certainly kicks off what we are anticipating being a very impactful year at Health First," said Brett Esrock, Executive Vice President and CFO/COO, Health First.

"As we are planning for and making progress toward the future of our new Cape Canaveral Hospital, this honor is reflective of Health First and Cape's commitment to providing the best wellness and medical care for our residents and visitors today and well into the future."

While construction takes place over the next two years, Health First officials will continue to engage with state officials in Tallahassee to determine the future of the current Cape Canaveral Hospital site at 701 W. Cocoa Beach Causeway, Cocoa Beach, which resides in a special taxing district.