AdventHealth Orlando is set to build a 14-story patient tower by 2030, with expanded services and recruitment efforts. Meanwhile, STARCOM HQ is moving to Florida's Space Coast, with new buildings at Patrick Space Force Base. President Trump pushes for $175 billion missile defense system.
AdventHealth render
A render of the new AdventHealth patient and surgical tower.
AdventHealth Orlando is launching a transformation of its hospital campus, making the largest single investment in health care in Central Florida history to meet the region's growing needs.
The investments include a 14-story patient and surgical tower, expanded services in a range of specialties and ongoing recruitment and training of physicians, nurses and other clinical team members.
The new tower is expected to open in 2030 with capacity for 24 operating rooms, endoscopy and imaging services,and 440 inpatient beds.
Birmingham, Ala.'s Brasfield & Gorrie is the general contractor on the project; HuntonBrady in Orlando is the tower's architect.
Orlando City Council Commissioner Robert Stuart, whose District 3 includes the hospital complex, noted AdventHealth's important role in the city and the state as the only not-for-profit, faith-based health system headquartered in Florida.
"Collaboration and innovation are the hallmarks of a successful community, and Central Florida would not be where it is today without AdventHealth," Stuart said. "Our city's future is bright and I'm confident these new investments will propel us to the future."
With an estimated 1,500 people moving to the Orlando area each week, AdventHealth noted in a May 14, 2025, news release that it is "committed to ensuring the region never outgrows its health care, and that we have a workforce of highly skilled and compassionate physicians and nurses."
AdventHealth's more than $1 billion investments also include:
• Advanced services and technologies to help save more lives, such as with robot-assisted kidney transplant at Orlando's only Transplant Institute; the Genomics Risk Assessment for Cancer and Early Detection (GRACE) program, which uses a patient's family history, medical history and AI data to assess potential risk; and the Little Miracles Unit, providing more intensive care for infants born as early as 22 weeks.
• Creating additional residency and fellowship programs to train and attract more physicians to the region. AdventHealth Orlando is currently home to 24 accredited programs, with 358 accredited residents and fellows. With additional investments, the goal is to have 33 accredited programs and 467 positions by 2029.
• Advancing today's clinicians and training the health care workforce of the future with investments at AdventHealth University, located on the hospital's Orlando campus. Investments under way include a new simulation center and bold recruitment goals.
"This project is paving the way for our Orlando campus to become America's epicenter for surgical advancement, breakthrough treatments, pioneering research and medical education — all centered on our whole-person health philosophy," said AdventHealth Orlando CEO Rob Deininger.
AdventHealth Orlando traces its roots to 1908, when a hospital opened on the shores of Lake Estelle with four patients, a handful of employees and one doctor.
The campus is now a 172-acre complex with nearly 10,000 team members that includes AdventHealth for Women, AdventHealth for Children, AdventHealth University, the nationally recognized AdventHealth Institutes, residences, lodging, retail and a church.
It also is the flagship of AdventHealth's national network, with 100,000 team members, 55 hospitals and more than 2,000 care sites across nine states.
"Our vision is for AdventHealth Orlando to serve our city as a vibrant civic center while growing as a magnet for science and health care innovation," Deininger said. "We will work to host conferences and attract top talent and business partners to AdventHealth from across the country and the world."
Additional announcements from AdventHealth Orlando are planned in the coming months as plans for the multi-phased project move forward, the hospital said.
Patrick Space Force Base to Add Buildings for STARCOM Command
A future pair of modular buildings for Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM) personnel are planned for construction at Patrick Space Force Base in Brevard County, Fla.
STARCOM is moving its headquarters from Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado to Patrick Space Force Base (formerly known as Patrick Air Force Base) on the Atlantic Coast of Central Florida.
Florida Today reported May 26, 2025, that more than 450 personnel, including uniformed Guardians and Airmen, federal civilians and contractors will transition to the base, located south of Cape Canaveral.
The new structures are slated for construction at Patrick SFB in a grassy field west of The Tides Collocated Club, environmental permitting records show.
The field command's geographic shift from Colorado to Florida's Space Coast comes as President Trump is lobbying in favor of the proposed $175 billion "Golden Dome" missile defense system, which would include space-based sensors and interceptors. On May 20, 2025, the president tapped Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein to lead the campaign.
STARCOM is the Space Force's training hub for warfighting in space, including doctrine, tactics and techniques.
In April 2025, Space Launch Delta 45 officials applied for St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) permitting to erect two modular buildings measuring 22,898 sq. ft. and 22,737 sq. ft. for STARCOM, along with a 133-space parking lot and dry stormwater retention area.
The 4.2-acre footprint off West Tech Road lies within a previously developed and demolished area on the base. SJRWMD officials issued a stormwater management system permit on May 8, 2025.
"The decision to host STARCOM HQ and Space Delta 10 at Patrick came after conducting a site survey to assess the base's ability to facilitate the mission and infrastructure capacity, while accounting for community support, environmental factors and cost. The Department of the Air Force also conducted an environmental impact analysis," a STARCOM spokesperson said in a statement to Florida Today.
"Last year, Patrick welcomed its first cohort of STARCOM Guardians, who are currently on the ground [and] rapidly establishing an initial operating capability for later in 2025," the statement continued. "Over the coming years, STARCOM will steadily transition a force of more than 450 personnel as it completes its move."
STARCOM plans to use existing and temporary buildings in the Patrick area until the permanent facilities are constructed, according to the command's spokesperson.
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