SMH Board OKs $60M Land Buy for Manatee Medical Campus

The Sarasota County Public Hospital Board approved the nearly $60 million purchase of about 120 acres at the southeast corner of I-75 and State Road 64 East in Manatee County on Sept. 22. The site sits across from the Marketplace at Heritage Harbour.

The deal follows the board's July approval of an adjacent 10-acre parcel with direct SR 64 frontage, bought for $8.4 million. Phase one is a freestanding emergency department on that parcel. Later phases could add physician offices, pediatric specialty care, imaging, and lab and diagnostic services, with a full-service hospital under long-term consideration. Development is phased and subject to local, regional and state approvals; the acquisition is contingent on rezoning work with Manatee County officials.

Manatee County residents accounted for more than 185,000 SMH patients in 2025, roughly 25% of system volume, and about 3,500 SMH employees (30% of the workforce) live in the county. Volume at SMH's Heritage Harbour outpatient facility has more than doubled since 2020.

Manatee County is projected to grow 9.6% over the next five years, concentrated along the SR 64 corridor, Parrish, Palmetto and Lakewood Ranch. The site fronts I-75 and SR 64, the region's primary north-south and east-west routes.