More details emerge on new $24M rehab hospital in Pinellas

A new $24 million rehab hospital is in the works for the Gateway Center. 

The Texas-based Everest Rehabilitation Hospital filed stormwater permits for the 6.19-ace property in Pinellas Park, within the growing Gateway Center, for its Gateway Centre Physical Rehabilitation Hospital. 

The 40,000-square-foot health care facility would be built at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Gateway Centre Parkway and is bordered by Centre Lake. Across from the site are the luxury Cortland Satori Apartments and the Epic at Gateway Apartments. Everest recently closed on the vacant property, referenced as Parcel J, in a $1.7 million deal. 

The site of the planned Everest rehab hospital in the Gateway Center. Image: Southwest Florida Water Management District

The planned facility would have 36 beds, according to a news release. Everest hospitals include technologically advanced inpatient and outpatient physical therapy gyms, a large outdoor mobility courtyard for therapeutic use, aqua therapy, a furnished life skills training apartment with a full kitchen and bathroom, in-house dialysis and an in-house pharmacy.

“The level of care in our acute rehabilitation hospital setting cannot be provided at other levels of care such as skilled nursing facilities,” Everest Rehabilitation CEO Jay Quintana said in a release. “The average length of stay at a comprehensive, inpatient rehabilitation hospital is one-third that of a typical stay at a skilled nursing facility.”

The new hospital is just one of several projects taking shape in the Gateway area, which is home to some of the county’s largest employers including Raymond James Financial, the Home Shopping Network and manufacturing tech giant Jabil Inc. 

This year, Jabil sold a 93-acre property in the Gateway District, separate from the site of its headquarters, to multifamily developer Greystar. The firm is planning to build the Gateway Logistics Center, a massive 622,270-square-foot industrial park. 

Another project is the remodeled and expanded Gateway Market Center at 7751-8229 9th St. N. The plaza is one of the largest shopping centers in St. Petersburg. It’s anchored by Target and Publix. 

InvenTrust Properties Corp., a real estate investment trust that has owned the shopping center since 2010, plans to add new buildings to the 47-acre retail plaza.