One of the busiest construction corridors in Lee County is about to get even busier.
Hope Preserve, a 46-acre swath of land sandwiched between Metro Parkway and Plantation Road just to the north of Six Mile Cypress Parkway, was purchased by Hope Hospice for $7.5 million in 2010. Since then, it sold chunks of it to health care and service companies as well as the construction company that is building most of the new buildings.
Orthopedic Specialists of Southwest Florida celebrated the groundbreaking of its new headquarters Friday on 7 acres. The 15 physicians will work out of a 60,000-square-foot new building and do surgeries in the adjacent 20,000-square-foot surgery center. The practice will relocate from its home since 2000 at 2531 Cleveland Ave., across the street from Lions Park in Fort Myers, where its lease expires in October 2023.
Orthopedic Specialists paid $4.87 million for the land.
“The hospital is right here, so this is very convenient,” said Dr. Fletcher Reynolds, who, when he’s not performing surgeries, carries an interest in real estate. When the group of physicians held a series of meetings several years ago, contemplating the group’s future, Fletcher championed expansion. The move away from Lee Memorial Hospital and closer to Gulf Coast Medical Center, which recently expanded, also signals a shift in the base of medical care for the area. “We’re in Lee County, but it’s very centrally located. This really fits the mold.”
Orthopedic Specialists will almost double its current space. The group started with three doctors and one podiatrist and 14 employees in 2000, and now has more than 200 employees.
“We were at a crossroads with our practice,” founder Dr. Charles Springer said. “We were running out of space. We had to decide if we were going to remain stagnant or if we were going to take this to the next level.”
The new headquarters, a project managed by Stevens Construction, should be ready by August 2023.
Stevens Construction just finished its own 21,727-square-foot headquarters two doors down. The total price tag for the project was about $6 million, including $1.25 million for the land on which it sits and $4.75 for the building. It will occupy the second floor of the building with the first floor to be leased.
In addition, the construction company bought 3.71 acres at Hope Preserve for $2.1 million and is leasing part of it to Radiology Regional. The 27,896-square foot new Radiology Regional building, 14551 Hope Center Loop, broke ground in September and should be ready by the end of the summer. The group’s ninth Lee County location will have three MRI suites, one CT and an imaging center for X-ray, mammography, ultrasound, DEXA scan and fluoroscopy.
Radiology Regional will be on the ground floor of its new building and the second floor will be leased.
Justin Thibaut of LSI Companies is handling the leasing for both the Stevens Construction and Radiology Regional buildings.
A standalone 2,500-square-foot Starbucks, which includes 500 square feet of outdoor seating, is also being built at Hope Preserve. Next door, a four-story, 124-room Extended Stay America hotel is planned on 2.5 acres.
Eventually, Hope Hospice seeks to build its own new headquarters on the remaining land on the northern portion of Hope Preserve.
