Commissioners of Palm Beach county have approved the plans for a specialty surgical and orthopedic hospital referred to as the South Florida Spine and Orthopedic Institute, which will cater to the treatment of patients with orthopedic issues and is meant to be developed into a world class health care facility that has never been seen in the county before.
The South Florida Spine and Orthopedic Institute was proposed to be built on a plot of land that is approximately 11.3 acres in size, near Delray Marketplace on Atlantic Avenue in the Agricultural Reserve in southern Florida. Located about 1.2 miles west of Florida’s Turnpike in an area of the county that is yet to be exploited. Dr. Robert Norton, the spokesman for the physicians operating in the facility hinted that construction work will commence in the first quarter of 2022, and is expected to go on for about two years.
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According to commissioner Robert Weinroth, the decision concerning the zoning of the project’s site toward the west of Delray, was arrived at using the zoning code endorsed by both staff and the zoning commission. However, the route to this agreement was far from a smooth ride and a lot of firm resistance was encountered from the Alliance of Delray Residential Associations, which was centered around the orthopedic institute’s impact on the community hospitals, quality of care and its acceptance of Medicare and Medicaid patients.
Weinroth described the two hour long hearing as a lengthy educational debate and he said that in the end, the decision came down to whether or not the project was in line with the zoning code.
A partnership with Legent Health of Irvin, Texas is the driving force behind the development of this health facility and it will consist of 24 surgical beds for spine and orthopedic procedures. The construction will also feature two buildings that are both two stories high and cover 60,000 sf. One of the two buildings will be used as a medical office, while the other will serve as the surgical center. Twenty-nine (29) surgeons will be involved in the operations of the institute, with around 3000 orthopedic surgeries expected to be performed on yearly basis.