Phased construction keeps health village on track

Lee Health Village at Coconut Point in Estero, Fla.

Renderings courtesy of Flad Architects

Due to open next year, Lee Health Village at Coconut Point in Estero, Fla., already has gained notoriety as a “hospital without beds,” but it has been master-planned to accommodate the potential addition of a bed tower in its second phase.

With health village-style programs already in place, construction of Phase 1 will focus primarily on the 145,000-square-foot anchor building, which will include an emergency department, an outpatient surgery center, rehab, clinics and the relocated Healthy Life Center.

An esplanade constructed in the first phase links to walking paths, an outdoor pavilion and a parking area that is structured to be used for public events such as farmers markets and art fairs. After the Phase 2 addition of a potential bed tower, Phase 3 extends the esplanade to span a retention pond, linking the central core with new clinics for outpatient services.

The last phase completes Lee Memorial Health System’s vision of a health village. In keeping with the city's goal to eliminate almost all surface lots, it adds parking structures on the sites of Phase 1 lots, fronted by mixed-use spaces such as housing, clinics and retail.

The site keeps to its walkable ideal by forming a more urban center, with most of the parking centrally located to give visitors immediate access to critical care and pedestrians easier access to services arranged around the esplanade, the site’s spine.

Interconnectivity, one of the health system’s primary goals, can be viewed in the way the different pieces are knit together to create a cohesive community framework on the site. A visitor will be able to come for his or her clinic appointment, eat a healthy snack, browse eyeglasses and buy a yoga mat in a healthful fashion.