AdventHealth Prepares for Hospital Construction in Winter Haven
by James Coulter
AdventHealth Polk North is laying the groundwork for a future hospital at its Cypress Gardens Boulevard campus. To prepare for that expansion, the health system asked the city for twoadjustments to the development requirements for its 41.4acre property.
At their regular meeting on Mon. Sep. 28, 2026, Winter Haven city commissioners voted unanimously to approve the changes to the site’s Planned Unit Development (PUD) ordinance.
Located at 6945 Cypress Gardens Boulevard, the subject property currently includes AdventHealth’s freestanding emergency department and the River Lake Shopping Center.
The PUD already allows for a future hospital and additional medical office buildings, but AdventHealth requested updates to height limits and parking requirements.
The amendment does not add new uses or increase the site’s overall development potential; instead, it refines the rules governing how tall the hospital building may be and how parking areas may be constructed, according to Senior Planner Heather Reuter.
These changes, as Reuter wrote, are needed “to address conditions related to hospital building height and parking requirements for the property.”
The height increase applies only to a designated interior portion of the site, giving the future hospital tower greater distance from nearby homes. The maximum height in this designated area was increased by 15 feet.
By limiting the taller building area to the center of the property, the amendment creates larger setbacks from the residential neighborhood north of River Lake while still allowing AdventHealth enough vertical space for a full hospital facility.
Reuter noted that hospitals have unique parking demands, making it appropriate to remove the requirement for pervious hardsurface parking once the site exceeds 110 percent of its minimum parking requirement. Those additional spaces, she said, are expected to be consistently used.
City staff emphasized that the amendment simply adjusts development parameters and does not authorize construction or alter existing access or intensities.
The changes clear the way for AdventHealth to eventually build a hospital tower connected to its emergency department while giving the site more flexibility to meet medicalcampus parking needs.
Tim Campbell, an attorney representing AdventHealth, told commissioners that the changes are needed to support the next phase of the medical campus. He said AdventHealth sees a clear demand for its freestanding emergency department and wants the ability to build a hospital tower that uses the site more efficiently.
“These adjustments allow AdventHealth to meet the design needs identified by its architects and engineers,” Campbell said.
He added that the amendment also gives the campus flexibility to use different parking surfaces and expand parking overall, noting that “in AdventHealth’s experience, additional parking is necessary.”
