Orlando Health wants to change the use of a swath of land on its downtown campus to help it expand.

The $3.4 billion nonprofit health care provider filed plans with the city of Orlando to change the zoning of about 5.26 acres spread over 13 parcels of land south of Lake Beauty from medical office and mixed-use to urban activity, which would match the zoning of the three hospitals already on the campus. Currently, the land up for rezoning features five office buildings which total 68,842 square feet, as well as parking lots and vacant land. "

"The requests call for a change in land use to accommodate new patient care facilities and campus enhancements and to expand a specially designated transit area to create more flexibility to support important growth," Orlando Health spokeswoman Kena Lewis said in an emailed response to Orlando Business Journal. "Both requests address properties generally located on the south side of the campus."

Orlando Health did not reveal any timetable on any action related to future development of a potential expansion/redevelopment of the land. The zoning change is currently on the municipal planning board agenda for July 16 at 8:30 a.m. The health care provider previously announced plans for a new one-story, 6,800-square-foot Orlando Health Imaging Center at 1800 S. Orange Ave. as well as a nine-level, 895-space parking garage for staff and patients, which could be as large as 161,000 square feet with an attached five-level, 42,000-square-foot medical office building. Construction of the imaging center is expected to be completed by fall 2019, while the parking garage/medical office is set to open in 2020.

Orlando Health also added to its downtown campus with a couple of land purchases in the past several months:

• On Nov. 19, it paid $1.64 million for a roughly 1-acre parcel with an existing 18,000-square-foot office building at 1300 S. Division Ave., north of Kaley Avenue near its Orlando Regional Medical Center.
• On Sept. 28, it bought a 1.5-acre parcel with a 30,000-square-foot warehouse at 1402 Sligh Blvd. for $2.03 million in downtown Orlando, which it previously leased from the seller, rail company CSX Corp. (Nasdaq: CSX).
• On June 18, it bought a vacant half-acre lot at 121 W. Copeland Drive in downtown Orlando for $833,500.

Orlando Health's eight Central Florida hospitals have a total of 3,300-plus beds. It has the area’s only Level One Trauma Centers for adults and children, and is a teaching hospital system. Its hospitals are: Orlando Regional Medical Center, Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, South Seminole Hospital, Health Central Hospital, the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies, South Lake Hospital and St. Cloud Regional Medical Center. It also owns 11 urgent care centers in the region, as well as several cancer centers, freestanding ERs and more.It is one of the region's largest employers, with 23,000 workers.

Source:  OBJ