AdventHealth is the latest healthcare provider looking to build a major medical facility in South Lakeland.
Lakeland commissioners will hold the first hearing for a request to change existing development plans to allow for a hospital, medical offices, retail-commercial space and multi-family housing at 3838 Harden Blvd. The undeveloped property is south of the Polk Parkway on the east side of Harden Boulevard.
AdventHealth is interested in building a hospital with a maximum size of 720,000 square feet on roughly 98 acres at the northwest corner of the property, according to documents submitted to the city. It would be limited to a maximum height of 135 feet, or approximately 10 stories, according to Chuck Barmby, Lakeland's business development and transportation manager.
The healthcare provider seeks approval to include features such as a helipad for medical transportation and a free-standing emergency department. It proposes to build an adjacent medical office building up to 200,000 square feet. There would also be a rehabilitation facility, structured parking and its own central energy plant on site.
The Ledger reached out to AdventHealth to discuss the proposal on Friday but did not receive an immediate response.
The property's owner, Drummond Company Inc., seeks zoning changes that would allow for up to 192,500 square feet of retail-commercial use. The owner has requested residential medium zoning to the immediate east of the hospital, which would allow up to 250 multifamily apartments to be built.
Lakeland city staff and the Planning Board have both recommended the proposed plans be approved by the commission. If so, it would eliminate prior developer entitlements to build either a hotel and restaurant or two hotels containing up to 225 rooms.
If approved, it could become the second hospital plan approved in South Lakeland. The site is located roughly 3.5 miles from where Orlando Health is building a hospital with about 300 inpatient beds south of the Polk Parkway at Lakeland Highlands Road and Winter Lake Extension Road. To the south of that, on U.S. 98, Bartow Regional Medical Center also announced a $110 million expansion in June that will add nearly 25% more beds.
Hospital plans raise traffic concerns
Residents have expressed concerns that the plans for a hospital could impact traffic on Harden Boulevard, which narrows south of the Polk Parkway, Barmby said.
"This gives me great pause from a traffic management standpoint," Commissioner Sara Roberts McCarley said at Friday's agenda study. "This is giving me a little bit of heartburn."
McCarley said from her personal experience traveling south on Harden Boulevard, traffic can become tight and congested as it approaches the Polk Parkway. There are also multi-family developments under construction on South Parkway Frontage Road.
"When you come off the parkway, it's already really congested to get to Harden Boulevard, then bang (turn) north or south at various times of the day," she said.
Barmby said about 80% of the traffic was anticipated based on Drummond's prior plans for the Oakbridge Development of Regional Impact, or DRI.
Prior to 2018, the city outlined an extensive list of traffic mitigation requirements in the DRI, and Barmby said many of these conditions have been completed. These included improvements to Harden Boulevard, the realignment of the Pipkin Road intersection and more.
Drummond Company has already paid more than $110,000 toward improvements to Harden Boulevard to help mitigate the proposed traffic impacts of its development based the 2018 plans. These plans had already included 180 multifamily units, 220 single-family homes and about 550,000 square feet of retail space.
Another big traffic mitigation requirement: The developer will be expected to dedicate land for the South Wabash Extension, about 120-feet wide, Barmby said. The South Wabash Extension would connect at Harden Boulevard at Beaker Road.
The city would also expect the developer to provide land for a future Beacon Road extension, possibly serving more as a utility corridor and trail, Barmby said.
"I understand we are growing, we need to work hand-in-hand with all our partners and make sure we are doing it right," McCarley said. "I want to make sure we are doing it well."
Commissioner Guy LaLonde said that he has similar concerns to McCarley, and while he's not against the proposed project, he has traffic concerns on Harden Boulevard.
"There will be a lot of additional strain there," he said. "It's my hope we do due diligence as we approach this."
The 'wild' factor
Residents voiced concerns at the city's July 16 Planning and Zoning Board meetings that there are wild hogs in the area, already being pushed into neighboring residential areas and causing property damage.
"The developer has taken those comments and will be looking to address it," Barmby said.
City commissioners questioned whether the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission may need to get involved in addressing the wild hogs, which are not protected.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: AdventHealth looks to build new 400-bed hospital in Lakeland. See the details
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