Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is spending more than $1 billion to expand across the county. The bet: 38 percent of Sarasota County residents are 65 or older and will need hospital beds close to home.

The taxpayer-owned system opened its $220 million Milman-Kover Cancer Pavilion on June 12 at 1941 Waldemere St. It is building a $507 million hospital in North Port. And in late January, the Sarasota County Public Hospital Board authorized up to $425 million in revenue bonds to help pay for it all.

The cancer pavilion is a seven-story, 200,000-square-foot building connected to the existing Oncology Tower by a skybridge. It houses a breast health center, surgical oncology suites, an infusion center, radiation oncology and genetic testing, according to Sarasota Memorial.

It is the third facility in the Brian D. Jellison Cancer Institute, following an outpatient radiation center that opened in 2020 and a $193 million Oncology Tower that opened in November 2021.

"We're really excited about being the first hospital in North Port and bringing our five-star health care closer to the people in that market," Jeffrey Wesner, president of SMH-North Port, told SRQ Daily in a July 20 interview.

The North Port project sits on 32 acres on North Sumter Boulevard near I-75. It broke ground in November 2025 after the hospital board approved the initial $450 million plan in January 2025 and later added $57 million for shell space.

Longboat Key News reported the nine-story building is scheduled to open in late 2028 with 100 private suites, six operating rooms and two cardiac catheterization labs. It will be expandable to more than 400 beds over time and will be the first acute-care hospital in North Port, the county's largest city.

The system estimates it will need about 74 additional physicians to staff the new hospital.

Sarasota Memorial also holds a second 28-acre site in Wellen Park in reserve for a freestanding emergency room and, eventually, a fourth hospital, according to Town Chronicle.

Bonds and bottom line

In February, the system priced the first $161 million of its bond program through J.P. Morgan. Moody's upgraded the district's bond rating to Aa3 from A1 in late January, citing strong performance and projected operating cash flow margins of 12 to 15 percent. Fitch affirmed its AA- rating.

Sarasota Memorial reported $2.23 billion in operating revenue in 2025 and posted a 9.9 percent operating margin in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, 2025, up from 6.2 percent a year earlier. The system holds roughly $1.4 billion in a fixed-income investment portfolio.

The hospital district levies 1.042 mills on every taxable parcel in the county. On a Longboat Key home with $2 million in taxable value, the hospital's line on the tax bill is about $2,084. The levy produced $93.8 million in fiscal year 2024.

Why demographics drive the expansion

Sarasota County's median age is 57.4, and about 180,900 residents are 65 or older. That is 38 percent of the population, compared with 21.8 percent statewide and 18 percent nationally. On Longboat Key, the median age is 73.2 and per capita income is around $174,000.

The county's fire department runs 29 ambulances a day and answers roughly 67,000 emergencies a year. Only about 7,000 involve fire.

Sarasota Memorial remains the county's only comprehensive stroke center, only trauma center and only provider of around-the-clock cardiac catheterization. It is also the only system in the county that delivers babies, runs a neonatal intensive care unit or provides inpatient psychiatric care.

In the system's 2026 community report, released June 17, President and CEO David Verinder said the public ownership model shapes the strategy. "Being community-owned means every decision we make is guided by what is best for the people we serve," Verinder said in the report.

The system employs nearly 11,000 people, making it the county's largest employer, with $1.1 billion in annual payroll. Construction on the North Port hospital continues, with an opening targeted for late 2028.