City Council approves NCH Heart and Stroke Institute

Reporter: Amy Galo Writer: Matias Abril
Published: Updated:

A big win for NCH.

Naples city council approved the $200 million plan to build a heart and stroke institute. This decision has been years in the making.

NCH had quite a few hurdles to jump through. They needed approvals for a new zoning designation, building heights, and site plans, and they finally got them.

NCH is calling this a historic day.

“February 7, 2024. This will be an iconic day for us, for our community, and for the future of healthcare here in Collier,” said Robert Cubeddu, president of the NCH Rooney Heart Institute.

“The city council voted to rezone the property we need to build the heart institute,” said Paul Hiltz, NCH president and CEO. “They approved the conditional uses that we proposed, and they approved the site plan to build this world-class heart and stroke center.”

It’s a decision two years in the making, so of course, there was some compromise.

“We reduced the height of the building. It’ll be shorter than the existing hospital and the parking garage will be slightly shorter,” Hiltz said.

We don’t have pictures of the new plans yet. Those decisions were only just made at Wednesday’s city council meeting.

Changes to the original plans include a 30-foot garage instead of a 40-foot one.

“I think we’ve we’ve come to terms on a great solution that meets the needs of everyone,” Hiltz said.

When all is said and done, what really matters is this building will save lives.

“We’re going to be able to provide our patients the level of care they deserve. Premier cardiovascular care,” Cubeddu said.

Because when it comes to matters of heart, every second counts.

“Putting everybody in one building makes a big, big difference,” Hiltz said.

NCH said the community is to thank for making this happen.

“There were thousands of letters sent of patients and community members, our leadership team, our board, or even the council members just stepped up at the end to support this,” Cubeddu said.

NCH still needs to raise around $30 or 40 million for this project.

It is expected to be completed in about two years.

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