Central Florida’s New ‘Medical City’
Tracking the Regional Impact of the Lake Nona Science and Technology Park
Within its relatively compact 600 acres, “Medical City” packs a huge economic punch for Central Florida, stretching well into the Space Coast. The project, in the Lake Nona area of southeast Orlando, includes new hospitals for veterans and for children, the University of Central Florida College of Medicine and a range of medical research facilities. Medical City will create an estimated 16,200 jobs and $5.2 billion a year in economic activity by 2017, while expanding medical services available to local residents and stimulating further economic development.
“A big part of this is that if you combine the forces of research and education and clinical care, you tend to create a lot of new ideas and new companies,” said Thad Seymour, vice president of life sciences for Lake Nona. He described early reaction from Brevard County entities to the Medical City cluster of anchor tenants as “phenomenal.”
While Seymour declines to make the comparison himself, he noted that some people have compared Medical City – which is more formally known as the Lake Nona Science and Technology Park – to Walt Disney World, in term of its impact on Central Florida. “It is definitely an economic boost to the region,” Brevard County Medical Society Executive Director Linda Paille observed. “And it’s really exciting to have a medical school located in Central Florida.”
“The emerging Lake Nona Science and Technology Park is an exciting development,” pointed out Elliot Cohen, a spokesman for Health First Inc., which operates hospitals in Cocoa Beach, Melbourne and Palm Bay, and is building one in Viera. “Because of its close proximity to Brevard County, the complex will enhance the high quality of health care already available here. We have already had preliminary discussions with several parties in Lake Nona about future collaborative opportunities with Health First to ensure that Brevard County residents may continue to have access to the best care possible.”
Emil Miller, president and chief executive officer of Wuesthoff Health System, which has hospitals in Melbourne and Rockledge, said he believes “Medical City will help Central Florida position itself for expanded business, technology and research initiatives. “At Wuesthoff, we look forward to working collaboratively with these medical ventures to not only improve health care for the residents of Central Florida, but also around the world.”
Many Components
Medical City will include two major hospitals, both scheduled to open in 2012, that will be used by residents of multiple counties, including Brevard.
Seymour identified the Orlando Veterans Affairs Medical Center that will serve six counties, having a total population of about 400,000 veterans, filling Central Florida’s current void of being the nation’s largest region without its own VA hospital. Brevard County alone has more than 79,000 veterans.
The medical center will include 134 regular inpatient hospital beds, 120 nursing home beds and a 60-bed domiciliary, as well as outpatient facilities. An estimated 3,800 patients a day would visit the facility, mostly for outpatient services, according to Rob Adams, vice president of marketing for Lake Nona.
The other hospital in Medical City will be the 95-bed Nemours Children’s Hospital. Nemours officials say the hospital will help bring comprehensive children’s health care and research capabilities to the area. Its pediatric health campus will be devoted to what Nemours calls “a holistic approach” in which “healing gardens, nature trails, pet therapy areas, water features and more create a peaceful environment that fosters both mental and physical healing.”
Paille sees the opening of those two hospitals as a boost to medical care for Brevard residents, as they complement services already available locally.
UCF’s College of Medicine facility is nearing completion at Medical City, and, in August, will start to house the medical school faculty and students. The College of Medicine started its first classes last August with 41 students, and is temporarily based at UCF’s main campus.
“Just having a medical school in a region has all kinds of advantages,” Seymour explained. That includes helping assure there is an adequate number of doctors in the counties surrounding the school. “Hopefully, we will be able to retain their physicians locally,” Paille said.
UCF also has opened the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences at Lake Nona.
Two additional major research centers are in operation at Lake Nona. The Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute’s focuses include diabetes and obesity research, while the M.D. Anderson Orlando Cancer Research Institute is researching treatments for various types of cancer. M.D. Anderson opened its new research facility in the UCF Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences building, moving there after previously being housed on the Orlando Health campus in downtown Orlando.
Yet another research facility, the University of Florida Academic and Research Center, is proposed for Lake Nona, although there is no specific timetable for its completion. Adams said that project would include biomedical research laboratories and a UF doctoral pharmaceutical program.
Brevard Connections
Seymour indicated there is strong potential for Brevard County companies, organizations and educational institutions to collaborate with the Medical City anchor tenants. For example, he said, one natural combination would be researchers at Medical City working with faculty of Florida Tech on research funded by the National Institutes of Health. He called Florida Tech “a great private university within an easy drive” of Medical City.
In addition to Florida Tech, Seymour said he has had “a number of very fruitful discussions” about Medical City with representatives from such Brevard entities as Melbourne-based high-tech giant Harris Corp., the Technological Research and Development Authority, Space Florida and space industry contractor Astrotech Corp., which has operations in Titusville.
Seymour went on to say that, in addition to the research, educational and clinical care entities at Medical City, he expects more commerce to grow there. Including, for example, companies involved in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.
The already existing components of Medical City would allow for “bigger companies to come and relocate here or create an operation here,” according to Seymour.
And, because of its proximity to the Space Coast, both Seymour and Adams see part of the Medical City workforce living in Brevard. That includes space industry workers whose jobs may be eliminated by the end of the space shuttle program, said Sue Carlson, project manager for the Regional Aerospace Workforce Initiative, who has been in discussions with Medical City tenants about those prospects. “Medical City has a good potential to provide long-term or temporary jobs to aerospace workers,” Carlson said. “The talented workforce that is out at Kennedy Space Center could fill many of those positions.”
Nationally, Medical City has “certainly gotten a lot of attention because of its scale and the speed” it has been developed, Seymour pointed out. “It happened very quickly, and it’s all new. We’re bringing together a lot of smart people who feed off of each other. Our view is: ‘a rising tide raises all boats’.”
Adams noted that Medical City, with its $2 billion worth of active construction projects, is just one part of the 7,000-acre Lake Nona master-planned community that is projected to eventually have 25,000 residents. Lake Nona also is noted for its golf course communities, and is expanding its other residential, retail, educational and recreational options.
Medical City Economic Impact Projections
An economic impact study by Arduin, Laffer & Moore Econometrics projected that, by 2017, the “Medical City” health and life sciences cluster at Lake Nona is on track to create:
- 16,200 jobs
- $5.2 billion in annual economic activity
- $1.5 billion in annual wages
- $245.5 million in annual tax revenue
