25 October 2018 | A surgical expansion building project featuring 24 brand new operating rooms, a new hospital entrance and over 100 all-private dedicated surgical care beds is off to a start in the Tampa Bay, Florida area. Florida Hospital Tampa, owned by Adventist Health System, has officially broken ground on the building according to an October 23 press release from the hospital. The 300,000-square-foot patient and surgical tower will be six stories high and will cost $256 million to build. The project is the largest expansion of its kind in Tampa Bay history.

“This is a state-of-the-art project that will provide specialty care in Tampa Bay that you can’t find anywhere else in our area,” said President and CEO of Florida Hospital Tampa, Brian Adams, “Our goal is to design a surgical tower that isn’t just relevant today, but will be relevant 30 years from now, combining surgical innovation and the most advanced robotic technologies with the nation’s best physicians.”

According to a press release from Florida Hospital Tampa, the new structure will be called The Taneja Center for Innovative Surgery, in recognition of the family of Jugal and Manju Taneja who gave the largest donation ever to Florida Hospital West Florida Division, specifically for the expansion project.

“This gift will forever remind us of our son Mandeep, and his wonderful care at Florida Hospital Tampa. This is for him and for other patients like him. When other patients are saved by this institute, we will be very happy,” said Jugal and Manju Taneja.

A goal of the new facility is to improve the accessibility of specialized care to the Tampa Bay area.

“We are currently performing advanced robotic surgeries at Florida Hospital Tampa, and this tower will allow us to have even more advanced technology and innovation, allowing us to create the best possible outcomes for patients,” said Harvard-trained surgeon and director of colon and rectal surgery at Florida Hospital Tampa, Dr. Allen Chudzinski. “As a surgeon, you look to be at a hospital that has the latest surgical technology and is preparing and shaping the future of surgery.”

The new center is slated to open in 2021. It is estimated that it will create 117 new clinical jobs in its first year of operation and 587 new jobs by its fifth year.

The West Florida Division of Adventist Health System is a 1,810-bed health care system currently comprised of ten acute-care hospitals.

Adventist Health System is a non-profit healthcare organization that operates over 50 hospital campuses within the Southern and Midwestern regions of the United States. Its headquarters is in Altamonte Springs, Florida. It is affiliated with the Adventist Church. According to a recent press release from AHS, all of the network’s wholly owned facilities will be branded as AdventHealth by January 2, 2019.

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