Baptist South Builds a $30 Million, 21,000-Square-Foot Heart Unit With 4 Operating Rooms and 7 Recovery Rooms, Opening in Fall 2027

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Baptist Medical Center South is building a $30 million heart unit that will bring open-heart surgery and other advanced cardiac procedures to the fast-growing area along Interstate 95 at Old St. Augustine Road. The 21,000-square-foot unit is going into unoccupied space inside the hospital, and construction is already underway, Baptist Health said in a Nov. 5 announcement. The health system expects the unit to see its first patients in fall 2027.

The Jacksonville Daily Record reported the project Nov. 6, citing a Baptist Health news release. The unit will have four operating rooms with space to add a fifth later, seven post-operative recovery rooms, surgical support areas and dedicated space for clinical staff. According to the release, the four rooms are split by purpose: two for cardiovascular surgery, one for structural heart procedures and one for electrophysiology.

What the new rooms will do

Each of those three specialties fills a gap at the Southside campus. Cardiovascular surgery covers open procedures such as bypass operations and valve repairs that require a full surgical team. Structural heart procedures are minimally invasive treatments for valve and other structural problems, typically done through a catheter threaded from a blood vessel rather than through an open chest. Electrophysiology focuses on the heart's electrical system, including procedures to treat rhythm disorders such as atrial fibrillation.

Baptist South already performs some heart work. The hospital offers diagnostic and interventional cardiac catheterization, peripheral vascular diagnostic and interventional procedures, and outpatient cardiology that includes preventive care, coronary artery disease management, heart failure management and evaluation of arrhythmias such as AFib, according to the release. What it has not offered is the surgical and specialized procedural care that currently sends patients north to the Baptist Jacksonville campus on the Southbank.

The new unit is designed to change that without splitting the program in two. Baptist said the teams at Baptist Jacksonville and Baptist South will operate as one integrated cardiovascular program with shared standards, expertise and resources. Nicole B. Thomas, president of Baptist Jacksonville, said in the release that the expansion "is about extending the expertise, teamwork and clinical excellence that define our cardiovascular program."

Why Baptist South

The hospital sits at 14550 Old St. Augustine Road in the 32258 ZIP code, serving southern Duval and northern St. Johns counties, Baptist's website says. Kyle W. Dorsey, president of Baptist South, pointed to that location in the announcement. "As one of the fastest-growing areas in Northeast Florida, demand for specialty care continues to increase," he said, adding that bringing advanced heart services to the campus lets patients get specialized care closer to home.

Baptist Health's president and chief executive, Matthew A. Zuino, framed the project as part of a pattern. "Throughout our history, Baptist Health has been willing to act when we saw an unmet need in our community," he said in the release. The system describes itself as a locally governed, faith-based nonprofit with six acute-care hospitals and more than 200 outpatient locations in Northeast Florida.

A campus that keeps growing

Baptist South opened in February 2005, according to the health system's history as summarized on Wikipedia, and has added pieces steadily since. A patient tower with a newborn intensive care unit tied to Wolfson Children's Hospital began construction in 2007, a cardiac catheterization lab opened in September 2011 and a 12-room pediatric emergency center for Wolfson opened in 2019. Baptist's own site says U.S. News & World Report ranks the hospital No. 2 among regional hospitals in Jacksonville and No. 11 in Florida.

The model for the new unit is downtown. Baptist Heart Hospital, which the release calls the area's only freestanding hospital for heart and vascular care, anchors the Baptist Jacksonville campus. Wikipedia's summary of the system's history says the heart hospital was integrated into the downtown campus in 2005 and covers 195,000 square feet, with three operating rooms, 120 private beds and two intensive care units.

The heart unit is the latest in a string of Baptist expansions across the region this fall. The Daily Record has reported on new Baptist pediatric clinics in Jacksonville Beach and on the Southside, a planned 80,000-square-foot medical office building at Baptist Medical Center Clay and an expansion of the system's Hospital at Home program to South Jacksonville, all within the past three weeks. Jax Times has covered the Clay and pediatric announcements separately.

What patients should know now

Nothing changes at Baptist South for now. The hospital's existing cardiac catheterization and outpatient cardiology services continue, and patients who need heart surgery will still be treated at Baptist Jacksonville until the new unit opens. The release did not name a general contractor, give a bed count for the new unit or say how many staff members it will add, and the Daily Record noted those details were not included.

Residents who want to follow the project can watch for building permits filed with the city, which the Daily Record tracks in its permit reports. Baptist Health posts its announcements at baptistjax.com under its newsroom section. The fall 2027 target gives the system roughly a year to finish construction, outfit the rooms and bring surgical teams to the Southside.