Dr. Phillips Charities to construct $75 million senior living campus

DR. PHILLIPS — The ever-burgeoning health care community in West Orange will welcome another addition to the fold within the next couple of years.

Dr. Phillips Charities will break ground on its $75 million, 26-acre Spring Lake Health and Living Campus this summer, just off Dr. Phillips Boulevard between the Southwest Branch of the Orange County Library System and Spring Lake, charity officials announced.

“This is an important project for Dr. Phillips,” said Kenneth Robinson, president of Dr. Phillips Charities. “We are committed to sustaining the sense of community that has been built here since Dr. P. Phillips arrived here in the early 1900s. 

“By creating the Spring Lake Health and Living Campus, we can provide residents of the close-knit community of Dr. Phillips, along with the surrounding communities of Bay Hill and Windermere, the opportunity to age in a place near their families, their churches and their friends,” he said. “It also will give the children of elderly parents a chance to relocate them here from around the country so they can be nearby to help.”

Harbor Retirement Associates, a regional senior-living development and management company based in Vero Beach, will develop and operate a 180-unit senior housing complex with 80 independent-living apartments, 70 assisted-living apartments and 30 memory-care apartments overlooking Spring Lake. Officials said this community would be state-of-the-art and include full-service dining, a 24-hour staff, daily scheduled transportation, housekeeping and laundry services, as well as HRA’s Life Enrichment Program, which provides social, devotional, fitness and recreational activities for residents.

“Harbor Retirement Associates and Dr. Phillips Charities share a unique bond based on similar values, and we’re proud to be a part of the storied legacy of this important organization,” said Charlie Jennings, chief development officer of HRA. “This project is special not only for its architectural and technological features but because it represents a modern and innovative interpretation of the senior living experience. Our first priority is to make life engaging, enjoyable and active for our residents. We’re especially excited to share our distinctive HarborChase lifestyle with the families of the Dr. Phillips community. ”

A medical pavilion is in the works with plans for arrival in fall 2016, with the first housing units to follow in fall 2017 and the rest thereafter, officials said. That Orlando Health Medical Pavilion at Spring Lake will feature offices for primary care physicians and specialists from Physician Associates and Orlando Health Physician Group, including specialists in oncology, cardiology, orthopedics and geriatrics. Imaging and diagnostic centers, a pharmacy and a cafe will be on site for this 60,000-square-foot medical facility.

The medical pavilion is crucial to OHPG’s mission to take health care closer to people’s homes and workplaces, OHPG President Dr. Wayne Jenkins said.

“We are proud to again partner with Orlando Health on this project,” Robinson said. “They have been our valued colleagues at Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, Dr. Phillips YMCA, UF Health Cancer Center at Orlando Health and Arnold Palmer Medical Center. With their help, we believe the Spring Lake campus can provide a strong glimpse into the future of community-based health care and the next level of comprehensive senior housing.”

For more, contact Kenneth D. Robinson, (407) 422-6105, or Katie Dagenais, (407) 803-2499.

Contact Zak Kerr at [email protected].