Expansion project at Florida Hospital Waterman reaches 'topping out' milestone

The construction of the new four-story tower at Florida Hospital Waterman is progressing as planned, and the hospital has reached an important milestone, its topping out. A time-honored construction-site tradition, the topping out ceremony celebrates the placement of a building's highest structural element.

To celebrate this milestone, members of the community will have the opportunity, on Aug. 21-22, to visit the medical office building on the Tavares campus to sign the tower's highest structural element ' the top beam, which will soon be installed.

Construction on this project began in July 2017 and is scheduled to be completed by July 2019. The main contractor is Robins & Morton of Orlando.

This expansion will add more than 111,000 square feet of patient care space to the hospital, including expanding the emergency department to 58 beds and adding a 24-bed women and children's unit on the second floor of the tower. Floors three and four will be shelled for future growth, and the structure will support an additional expansion, up to six floors.

'The expansion and renovation of the emergency department and new patient tower mark the single largest investment in a Lake County health care facility since Florida Hospital Waterman's Tavares campus was completed in 2003,' said David Ottati, CEO of Adventist Health System's Central Florida Division - North Region, which includes Florida Hospital Waterman. 'This is a substantial investment in our community and helps further our mission of providing whole-person, faith-based care.

''We have experienced substantial growth in our emergency department over the past several years,' said Abel Biri, Florida Hospital Waterman CEO. 'As our community continues to grow, and more Lake County residents choose us for their care, we must expand to meet that demand. The expansion will help ensure we are well-positioned to provide the efficient, high-quality and compassionate care our community expects and deserves.'