Construction of new SMH research building reaches max height

Scheduled to open in mid-2025, Sarasota Memorial Hospital staff and members of the design-build team celebrated the “topping out” of the new five-story, $75 million Kolschowsky Research & Education Institute at the SMH Sarasota campus.

The new building is at 1880 Arlington St., the former location of the Doctors Gardens medical office building. 

Now that the building has reached its height of 85 feet, installation has begun on support steel, exterior walls and windows and interior framing along with electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems. 

When it opens, the Kolschowsky Research and Education Institute will expand research and training opportunities for physicians and clinicians. In addition to supporting clinical trials and research studies, it will offer education programs and a simulation center, which will expand hands-on training opportunities for physicians, nurses and students learning new treatments and technologies.

The 80,000-square-foot facility will consolidate and promote existing SMH programs while creating a collaborative environment that brings leading-edge treatments and specialists to the region. Research and graduate medical education programs at SMH have tripled in size in recent years, with more than 50 active studies underway.