Blake Hospital completes $30 million expansion. ‘The community is growing.’
HCA Florida Blake Hospital announced the completion of a $30 million surgical expansion on Thursday, an expansion expected to handle surgical and burn care needs far into the future.
Construction started in April 2021 to add four new operating rooms, a post-anesthesia care unit and a 12-bed burn ICU.
With the acceleration of population shifts, supply chain problems and sharply rising costs for everything, hospital officials are happy to have started — and completed — the expansion when they did.
“This community is growing. The hospital needs to grow with the community,” said Steve Nierman, president and CEO of the hospital.
Combined, Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties are forecast to see another half million people by the year 2045, according to a study by the University of Florida.
The hospital expansion adds 12,800-square-feet of space to the first floor surgical unit, shell space for three future operating rooms, and completes renovation of the fifth floor ICU, expanding hospital ICU capacity to a total of 46 beds.
The first surgeries in the new facilities are expected as soon as next week, Nierman said.
Blake has served Manatee County since 1973, and has been aggressively expanding and upgrading its facilities. In January 2021, Blake completed an expansion of its emergency room, complete with new MRI technology.
In 2020, Blake opened its neurointerventional laboratory with imaging capabilities and a new center for breast health. In 2015, Blake opened its burn and reconstruction center.
Blake is one of 35 trauma centers in Florida, serving Manatee, Sarasota and DeSoto counties.
“We deliver compassionate care and we are humble about it,” Nierman said.
Charles Perry Partners Inc. of Tampa handled construction and renovation.
In March, Nashville-based HCA Healthcare, which bought Blake in 1980, rebranded all of its Florida hospitals. Including Blake Medical Center which is now HCA Florida Blake Hospital.
Blake opened in 1973 as L. W. Blake Memorial Hospital., and has had several name changes over the years.
