Medical campus in Estero in Lee Memorial's future

Lee Memorial Health System plans to purchase about 10 acres in Estero, making the possibility of a medical campus in south Lee County even more likely, said Jim Nathan, CEO of the hospital system.

The finance committee for the health system’s board of directors voted unanimously Thursday afternoon to purchase two tracts of land near the southeast corner of U.S. 41 and Coconut Road for nearly $9.4 million.

The board of directors will have final approval of the land buy on June 29.

Officials are not ready to say the h-word just yet — hospital — but both pieces of land further strengthen the chance of an Estero medical campus, said Nathan.

Building “an array (of medical services) is more logical than a hospital, at this point,” he said.

Lee Memorial bought 22 acres behind Bonita Community Health Center on the southeast corner of U.S. 41 and Coconut Road last year for about $8 million. It took the hospital system three years to close the deal.

The two pieces of land Lee Memorial is now pursuing will give the system nearly 33 acres in Estero, almost twice the size of the 18-acre Lee Memorial Hospital campus on Cleveland Avenue in Fort Myers.

The 6.3-acre tract that could be purchased is directly north of the 22-acre tract Lee Memorial already owns. The land, which fronts Coconut Road, will cost about $6.3 million.

The smaller, 4.12-acre tract is directly south of the Bonita Community Health Center along U.S. 41 and will cost a little more than $3 million. That land could be used to expand BCH, which is at capacity, Nathan said.

Lee Memorial co-owns BCH with NCH Healthcare System.

“There are no expansion plans, but (Lee Memorial officials) thought that seemed like a logical place to expand,” he said.

The three tracts of land would be a package deal when it comes to rezoning, said Andy DeSalvo, a commercial real estate broker with Premier Commercial Properties of Southwest Florida.

The 22-acre tract is zoned for 30,000 square feet of medical space and 100,000 square feet of retail or office space. Lee Memorial cannot seek rezoning for the land until 2009, under the terms of the sale contract.