$285M UF Health Durbin Park hospital on track for 2026 opening (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — Perched near the line between Duval and St. Johns counties, construction of UF Health’s Durbin Park hospital is on track and set to debut late next year.
The hospital is the beginning of a health and wellness campus in northern St. Johns that broke ground last year, representative of a $1 billion investment in North Florida by the health system.
It’s a $285 million project starting with a 63,000-square-foot medical office building, 99 hospital beds, intensive care medical service units and emergency department with 22 exam rooms, Patrick Green, UF Health’s Northeast Florida Regional President, told the Business Journal in a recent interview.
The project — expected to bring 2,000 new jobs for a total of 12,000 jobs in St. Johns and Jacksonville over time — is expected to open in the fall of 2026, he said.
Its most recent addition was the planned three-story, 71,903-square-foot medical office building that was issued a $10.77 million permit in April.
Rising at a variety of addresses along Flagler Health Way, the Durbin Park campus is an expansive project in of itself. It’s also a major investment in the region, one that UF Health is aiming to help capitalize on the rapidly growing area.
“We are not only growing and investing in Durbin Park with this hospital,” said Green. “We have a strategy to grow our ambulatory component, from primary care to freestanding emergency departments and urgent care centers, similar to how we’ve developed those in Jacksonville.”
Growth in the health care sector and serving the community’s needs doesn’t always mean inpatient hospital care, he explained. It’s also about creating additional access points for St. Johns County residents near where they live. That improves the cost of care alongside convenience, Green said.
“We don’t just want to build this hospital,” said the UF Health leader. “We want to be a piece of the fabric of St Johns — grow with it and make sure that not only our staff, but the community knows that we’re committed to improving the health and the lives of the people that we serve.”
Rendering courtesy of UF Health