JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Mayo Clinic announced plans to add five floors to the top of its main hospital on the Jacksonville campus, expanding to 13 floors with 121 new beds and room to grow in the future.
Construction on the $432 million project is expected to begin this year and be completed by 2026. Operations at the current eight-floor hospital will be able to continue as usual during the work, said CEO Kent Thielen.
Three of the new floors will be finished, while the others will be available when needed.
Mayo said in the last six years it has invested about $1 billion in projects at the center off San Pablo Road and that by 2026 it will have more than doubled its space in that period.
“That’s a very significant growth for patients who are seeking us for serious and complex health care needs," Thielen said in an interview Tuesday. "There’s tremendous demand for services at Mayo Clinic in Florida. That’s the main reason we’re doing this."
The hospital had six floors and 214 beds when it opened in 2008. Two more floors and 90 beds were added in 2012. When this new project is done, the hospital will have 1.4 million square feet, 13 floors and 428 patient beds.
Last year Mayo in Florida, which U.S. News ranked the best hospital in the state, said it treated patients from all 50 states and about 80 countries. The hospital said 41% of its patients came from outside the metro area, and that it saw a 21% increase in international patients from 2019 to 2021.
It has recently embarked on several other big projects.
Construction of an eight-story Hilton hotel on the campus was announced last year. The Emergency Department is being expanded by 12,000 square feet, with construction expected to continue through April. Last month popular local chefs Matthew and David Medure opened a restaurant in the new atrium near a recent five-story addition to the Mayo North building.
Mayo also expects to break ground this year on its integrated oncology facility, with a carbon ion treatment center that will be the first in North America. It will include chemotherapy, standard radiation and proton beam therapy in a 200,000 square-foot building.
Mayo, based in Rochester, Minn., opened its Jacksonville campus in 1986 with one medical building and fewer than 40 physicians.
Mayo said staffing there has increased 23 percent in the past three years, and there are now 8,314 employees — including 1,074 physicians, researchers, residents and fellows. The hospital expansion will mean even more employment, Thielen said.
Mayo has been a driving factor in the strong growth in the San Pablo Road area, just west of the Intracoastal Waterway. And the clinic expects to keep growing on its 400-acre campus, even beyond the latest announced projects.
"We’ll continue to grow well into the future," Thielen said. "We do have space in the coming years to continue that growth trajectory."
Recent Mayo undertakings
Hilton hotel
The eight-story, $70 million Hilton will include 252 rooms and offer upscale accommodations. It will feature a fitness center, restaurant, outdoor pool and 16,000 square feet of meeting space. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer and be completed in early 2024.
Mayo North
The $106 million, five-story building is an addition with a two-story atrium link between the Cannaday and Mayo buildings. It has space for eight operating rooms and procedural space for cardiology, gastroenterology, hepatology and other departments. Local award-winning chefs Matthew and David Medure opened their latest restaurant in the atrium on Jan. 24.
Integrated oncology facility
Mayo will break ground this year on a new, $233 million integrated oncology facility that will include proton beam therapy for cancer patients. The 200,000-square-foot building also will include the first carbon ion therapy center in North America.
Patient parking garage
An 866-space, $38 million parking garage adjacent to the Cannaday Building opened in late 2020. In addition to the garage, a two-story connector building was constructed that includes about 25,000 square feet of space for retail and other uses.
Emergency Department expansion
The 12,000-square-foot expansion will include 14 new patient rooms and 10 new short-stay rooms in the Emergency Department. Construction is underway on the $8 million project and will continue through April.
Discovery and Innovation Building
The hospital's $32 million building opened in 2019, offering pioneering technology to increase the number of lungs available for transplant. The 75,000-square-foot building also houses an innovative Life Sciences Incubator that connects entrepreneurs with resources to bring medical solutions to market.
Mayo South
Four floors were added to Mayo Building South, including remodeling existing space in the Davis Building. The $70 million project added 80,000 square feet for new surgical rooms, cardiology areas and spine center and pain rehabilitation expansions by 2019.
Mangurian Building
The $100,000, five-story Dorothy J. and Harry T. Mangurian Jr. Building serves as a state-of-the-art treatment center for oncology, hematology, neurology and neurosurgery. It opened in 2018.
Source: Mayo Clinic and Times-Union archives
