Brevard County’s growing population has triggered a billion-dollar race to build new medical facilities, following Orlando Health’s recent closure of Rockledge Hospital.
Orlando Health shut down the 298-bed Rockledge facility in April, citing the hospital’s deteriorating condition when it was acquired from Steward Health Care. But rather than abandon the Space Coast, Orlando Health has committed to an aggressive $750 million expansion plan throughout the county. That plan includes a new $600 million hospital at a location still to be announced, along with up to four new freestanding emergency rooms, each projected to cost around $30 million. According to insiders, Orlando Health is also eyeing a 40-acre parcel in Viera’s near Ford’s Garage that could house a new ortho clinic among other services.
Health First, Brevard’s other major hospital system, isn’t sitting idle. Already underway is Health First’s new $230 million expansion at Palm Bay Hospital, along with a brand-new $300 million hospital campus on Merritt Island to replace its aging facility in Cocoa Beach. In addition, Health First is fast-tracking the construction of two freestanding ERs—one in Rockledge and another serving southern Brevard—at a combined cost of $40 million.
Behind the flurry of construction is Brevard’s surging population, which grew from 543,376 residents in 2010 to over 606,000 as of 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Independent health care analyst Allan Baumgarten noted that such growth often drives strategic decisions by hospital systems about where to invest. “One hospital system’s losing proposition may be an opportunity for a competing system,” Baumgarten told the Orlando Business Journal.
