News Release: Tavistock Development Company Breaks Ground on GuideWell Innovation Center at Lake Nona Medical City

State-­of-­the-­Art Facility Brings First Incubation Wet Lab Space to Lake Nona

(ORLANDO, Fla.) October 30, 2014 – Tavistock Development Company (TDC), a diversified real estate firm owned by Tavistock Group, celebrates the groundbreaking of the GuideWell Innovation Center today at Lake Nona Medical City.

The 92,000-square-foot, three-story facility is the first multi-tenant building in Central Florida designed specifically for life sciences, health innovation, and technology companies. Located in the heart of the 650-acre Lake Nona Medical City, near the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute and the University of Florida (UF) Research & Academic Center, the GuideWell Innovation Center will offer a robust mix of lab, clean room and office space within an efficient, high tech facility in close proximity to multiple exceptional research and clinical institutions. The facility is scheduled to open in late 2015.
“We have understood from the beginning of Lake Nona Medical City that building a globally recognized innovation cluster depends on attracting top-tier ideas, talent and capital to launch companies that create high wage jobs and meaningful economic value,” said Thad Seymour, senior vice president of Tavistock Development Co. “The innovative work of our partners in this effort will build and grow hundreds of companies that will ultimately impact the lives of millions of individuals worldwide.”
Anchored by GuideWell, a health solutions company focused on transforming health care, the new facility will occupy the first floor of the building, with more than 30,000 square feet of space, and will feature six core Centers of Excellence such as Advanced Integrated Delivery of Care, Consumer Engagement, Digital Health and Next Generation Analytics – where healthcare industry thought leaders from around the globe will converge to address current state issues, evaluate emerging trends, and find the new solutions that will radically transform and reshape the healthcare industry. The new center will provide the supporting infrastructure, business expertise and business development pathway to get these solutions to market.
“In an industry where sustainability requires us to find solutions that lower cost and improve the effectiveness of care, and where empowered consumers are demanding new solutions to manage their health, we envision the GuideWell Innovation Center to be a global epicenter for responding to these challenges,” said Pat Geraghty, Chairman and CEO, GuideWell and Florida Blue.
The GuideWell Innovation Center joins a prestigious group of partners at Lake Nona Medical City, including the University of Central Florida (UCF) Health Sciences Campus, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, Nemours Children’s Hospital, the University of Florida (UF) Research & Academic Center, and the Veterans Administration Medical Center. The GuideWell Innovation Center is the first of four adjacent buildings that will serve as the launch pad for health and life sciences commercialization at Lake Nona.
The GuideWell Innovation Center will also feature the first onsite incubation space at Lake Nona Medical City, with 15,000 square feet of wet lab, dry lab and clean room space for emerging life sciences and technology companies. The biotech incubator will be jointly managed by two of Florida’s prestigious universities, the University of Central Florida and the University of Florida, both of whom have won international recognition for their incubator programs.
Funding for the initial planning and startup of the incubator has been provided by $2.5 million in state funding made possible through the efforts of then Speaker of the Florida House Dean Cannon and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. Additional early and mid-stage companies and service organizations supporting the entrepreneurial ecosystem will also make the Innovation Center their home.

Renderings

Lake Nona has gained international recognition for its unique partnerships, commitment to innovation, and culture of collaboration. One of the nation’s first gigabit communities, Lake Nona’s investment in technology has been recognized by global organizations such as Cisco, which named Lake Nona the first “iconic city” in the United States and only the ninth in the world among its “Smart + Connected” communities.
With more than $200 million in active onsite construction, Lake Nona continues to bring innovative ideas and businesses to southeast Orlando. Earlier this year, Tavistock Development Co. announced the arrival of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to Lake Nona. The 63-acre, 100-court, state-of-the-art facility will serve as the New Home of American Tennis and home to the USTA’s Player Development and Community Tennis divisions. UCF’s varsity men and women’s tennis teams will host the twelve-court Collegiate Tennis Center within the complex.  The New Home of American Tennis serves as the anchor for the Sports Innovation and Performance District at Lake Nona, currently under development.
Tavistock Development Company properties include a diverse mix of land, office and retail, industrial, apartment, hospitality and master-designed communities in Central Florida. Abundant office and retail center opportunities are offered in Lake Nona, including the developing Vickrey Place adjacent to Valencia College and Lake Nona High School along Narcoossee Road. Nearing completion is the Lake Nona Gateway Building, a 75,000 square-foot medical office building on the northwest corner of Narcoossee Road and Tavistock Lakes Boulevard. The first phase of the Lake Nona Town Center, a large-scale, open-air center that will include an array of department stores and boutique shops, restaurants, hotels and office buildings broke ground in spring 2014.
For more information on Lake Nona, please visit learnlakenona.com and tavistockdevelopment.com.
For event images, bios or additional information, please contact Jessi Blakley.

ABOUT TAVISTOCK DEVELOPMENT CO.

Tavistock Development Company (TDC) is a diversified real estate firm owned by Tavistock Group and specializing in planning, design, finance, construction and development. TDC’s real estate portfolio is highlighted by the 7,000-acre master-planned community Lake Nona in Central Florida, in addition to its infrastructure network, residential, office and retail development and medical and educational institutions. For more information, visit tavistockdevelopment.com<http://tavistockdevelopment.com/>.

ABOUT LAKE NONA

Lake Nona is a 7,000-acre master designed community in Orlando, Florida that is home to an array of thoughtfully designed, innovative neighborhoods; world-class education from pre-K to PhD; Lake Nona Medical City, Orlando’s landmark health and life science park; a sports innovation and performance district highlighted by USTA’s New Home of American Tennis; diverse work spaces; recreational facilities, retail centers and entertainment venues for everyone seeking the best the city has to offer with all the conveniences of a dynamic, vibrant community. For more information on Lake Nona, visit www.learnlakenona.com<http://www.learnlakenona.com/>.

ABOUT TAVISTOCK GROUP

Tavistock Group is an international private investment organization founded by Joe Lewis. With investments in hundreds of companies across 15 countries, Tavistock Group’s investment portfolio includes: life sciences, sports teams and sporting events, manufacturing and distribution, oil, gas and energy, financial services, restaurants, commercial properties, private luxury residential properties, resort properties and master-planned real estate developments. For more information, visit www.tavistock.com<http://www.tavistock.com/>.

ABOUT GUIDEWELL

GuideWell Mutual Holding Corporation is a not-for-profit mutual holding company that is the parent to a family of forward-thinking companies focused on transforming health care. The GuideWell companies include: Florida Blue (Florida’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan), GuideWell Health (a health care delivery company), GuideWell Connect (a health care consumer marketing company), and Diversified Service Options (an administrative and claims processing company for state and federal health care programs). For more information, visit www.guidewell.com<http://www.guidewell.com>.

The full content of this article is only available to paid subscribers. If you are an active subscriber, please log in. To subscribe, please click here: SUBSCRIBE

Existing Users Log In