Morton Plant buys medical office building, land near hospital

Morton Plant Hospital Association Inc. now owns more of the 400 block of Jeffords Street, just north of the Clearwater hospital.

The hospital bought a medical office building at 402 Jeffords St. and vacant commercial land east of the building on Monday, according to a deed filed in Pinellas County. The purchase price was $1.4 million.

Morton Plant already owns several other parcels of vacant land on the block, but does not own the entire block, a spokeswoman said.

The hospital is currently exploring options for the property, and is always interested in property adjacent to the Morton Plant campus, the spokeswoman said. 

The 13,200-square-foot, two-story medical office building previously was owned by 402 Jeffords Street Limited Partnership, whose general partners include nine physicians. The building, which housed the Orthopaedic Surgery Center of Clearwater, was listed for sale on LoopNet, a commercial real estate website.

Morton Plant, with 599 licensed beds, is the largest hospital in Pinellas County. The most recent major expansion at the hospital was the construction of the $200 million Doyle Tower, a 200,000-square-foot, four-story patient and surgical building featuring all private rooms, a new surgical center, women’s services and an orthopedic center. Doyle Tower opened in 2017.