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Developer: Mental Facility Not Looming

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 7, 2008

WESLEY CHAPEL - The developer of Seven Oaks said Wednesday that the community is not on the list of possible sites for a psychiatric hospital proposed for land near Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.

The Seven Oaks development contains property just off Bruce B. Downs that has been designated for a medical complex and a possible hospital built by BayCare Health System.

"Right now, BayCare owns all the hospital beds we have," said Craig Weber, general manager of Crown Communities, the Chicago-based company that is developing Seven Oaks.

"No one has approached BayCare or Seven Oaks," Weber said. "It can't happen here unless BayCare and we agree to it."

The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, which must approve plans for health care facilities, gave Ten Broeck Tampa a green light for its proposed 40-bed mental health facility in June.
Ten Broeck is part of United Medical Corp., a for-profit health care company based in Windermere, near Orlando.

The proposed mental hospital would cover 34,500 square feet and cost $15.7 million, according to documents filed with the state.

The facility would be locked and fenced in and have two full-time psychiatrists for at least the first two years, according to Ten Broeck's application.

The facility would focus on psychiatric patients but offer a smaller number of beds to people being treated for drug addiction.
Ten Broeck won the support of Pasco County Sheriff Bob White and police chiefs from east Pasco because the secured facility would give law enforcement agencies a second location to house people held for observation under the state's Baker Act.

Currently, all Baker Act detainees are held at a facility in New Port Richey.

In the application, Ten Broeck officials said they have three possible sites for the facility near Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in the 33543 and 33544 ZIP codes.
Ten Broeck did not identify the exact sites but said all three are near the Wiregrass Ranch site approved for a hospital operated by Adventist Health System and University Community Hospital.

The possibility that Ten Broeck's facility might go up in Seven Oaks caused a stir among residents of the upscale community. "Residents are up in arms," Weber said.
Ten Broeck spokeswoman Sherry Magee said the company's deal with the state requires its hospital to be built in Wesley Chapel.

Ten Broeck's proposal is being challenged by New Port Richey-based Community Hospital, which wants to build its own facility near the Suncoast Parkway. That challenge has not been scheduled for a hearing.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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