Bayfront Health to create institutional hub

The newly announced cancer and orthopaedic center that will be developed at Bayfront Health St. Petersburg’s campus is part of a cluster of facilities that will anchor the planned institutional hub. 

“The development of ‘Institute Square’ will be focused on key areas of care such as oncology and women’s care,” said John Moore, president of Bayfront Health St. Petersburg and senior vice president of Orlando Health West Region, which operates the hospital campus.

“We are primarily focusing on reconnecting with community that’s helped us identify the needs the region has,” Moore said. “We are also in the heart of the Innovation District.”  

The new cancer and orthopaedic center, called the Bayfront Health Medical Pavilion, will be a technologically advanced facility made possible through partnerships with the Florida Cancer Specialists and Research Institute, All Florida Orthopaedic Associates and Women’s Care.

A rendering showing the southeast perspective of the Bayfront Health Medical Pavilion – Institute Square. Image provided. 

The 132,000-square-foot Bayfront Health Medical Pavilion – Institute Square complex will be built west of the James Heart Center and will also include an outpatient imaging center and diagnostic laboratory services.

It is expected to open in late spring of 2025.

“Bayfront Health previously provided cancer care many years ago and it’s now left a gap in services for the community,” Moore said. Orlando Health took the reins of the St. Petersburg campus in 2020. 

Moore explained he had a prior relationship with Florida Cancer Specialists, and that it was a natural fit to collaborate with them. 

He said the cancer and orthopaedic center will be comprehensive and will likely offer targeted proton therapy, which is an advanced cancer treatment that uses a beam of protons to deliver radiation at specific tumors. 

Moore hinted that there will be upcoming announcements of additional centers that will be built at the visioned Institute Square, which will be based on the desired needs and lack of specialized health care service within the area. 

The plans for the institute come off the heels of Bayfront Health’s October announcement on partnering with Women’s Care to provide services for a new 60,000-square-foot facility, which will be built at 700 6th St. South on the east side of the hospital’s campus. 

Bayfront Health is also currently in the midst of renovating two floors in the 480-bed main hospital building, converting older rooms into all-private rooms. 

Elsewhere, Orlando Health, the St. Petersburg hospital operator, is also building a 300-bed, multi-story hospital and wellness campus at State Road 56 and Wiregrass Ranch Boulevard in Wesley Chapel, as well as a campus in Lakeland, which will open in fall 2024. 

Additionally, the health care system is building a freestanding emergency department that will open in spring 2023 in the Crossroads neighborhood.