St. Anthony’s plans $152 million expansion

St. Anthony’s Hospital plans to add a 90-bed patient tower as part of a major expansion and renovation.

The renovation and expansion is designed to meet the growing needs of the community, the St. Petersburg hospital said in a fact sheet. It will improve access to care and enhance the patient experience.

Once the project is completed, St. Anthony’s would have 448 beds, said a spokeswoman for parent company BayCare Health System. Among hospitals in St. Petersburg, only Bayfront Health St. Petersburg, with 480 beds, is larger.

St. Anthony’s new four-story patient tower will be built on top of the existing three-story hospital building, according to plans submitted to the St. Petersburg Development Review Commission, which approved the project on Wednesday. It will be on the west side of the hospital building, and the same height as the two other hospital towers. The contemporary architecture will complement existing buildings.

All the rooms in the new patient tower will be private, the hospital said.

The tower makes up the bulk of the 143,000 square feet that will be added to the hospital’s campus. The project also includes renovations to the ground, first, second and third floors at the main hospital, with more room and better access for cardiology services, pre-admission testing for surgical patients, new classrooms for education, a new electrical plant and an expanded loading dock. The kitchen and cafeteria, currently on the ground floor, will move to the first floor for better visitor access, and a new entry lobby is being created.

Construction is expected to begin in early 2020. The architect is Gresham, Smith & Partners in Tampa and the contractor is Robins & Morton in Orlando.

Construction and renovations also are ongoing at other BayCare hospitals, including St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, St. Joseph’s Hospital North, St. Joseph’s Hospital South and Mease Countryside Hospital.

BayCare, based in Clearwater, is the largest nonprofit healthcare provider in the Tampa-St. Pete area.