Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and Florida State University have struck a tentative deal to merge the hospital with FSU Health.
After months of negotiations, the agreement requires an approval by Tallahassee’s city commission.
Under the agreement, TMH would become a part of FSU Health with the university taking control of all the city-owned assets of the hospital.
The agreement ends community ownership and management of the hospital. What’s more, it effectively transforms TMH into an academic medical center along the lines of the sprawling health care system that the University of Florida has been operating for decades.
FSU President Richard McCullough and hospital CEO Mark O’Bryant stressed that “for both institutions, maintaining the hospital as a locally based, locally governed health care system remained paramount.”
TMH executives promised employees that day-to-day operations will continue unchanged. Moreover, the hospital’s finances will remain separate from the university, and current employees will remain fully employed. Over time, TMH will transition its brand name and logos to that of FSU Health to reflect the new partnership.
HOUSING
- The homebuilding boom underway in Santa Rosa County is showing no signs of slowing down as it enters 2026. Commissioners recently approved five subdivisions that will bring more than 800 new homes to the county, one of the fastest growing in Northwest Florida. The city of Milton will be home to 600 of the total newly approved homes with the remaining 200 allocated to the Pace and Navarre communities.
MANUFACTURING
- Pegasus Laboratories, a veterinary pharmaceutical manufacturer and subsidiary of PBI-Gordon Companies, has expanded its manufacturing facility at Pensacola’s Ellyson Industrial Park. The $7-million expansion, the first of three planned, is designed to give Pegasus the capacity to meet what it calls “the growing demand” for veterinary pharmaceuticals. The expansion also will create dozens of new jobs and assist in the company’s expanded research and development of new products.
NEW BUSINESS
- PackEx USA, an all-aluminum packaging and bottling company, is set to open a 400,000-sq.-ft. facility in Jackson County. The $50-million investment will create 75 new jobs. PackEx serves various beverage markets that include purified, flavored and sparkling waters, along with soda, energy drinks, natural juices and sports drinks. “This meets our criteria for the manufacturing, logistics, distribution and clean tech companies that we are working to attract,” says Darwin Gilmore, president of the Jackson County EDC. The plant is on schedule to open in January.
HOSPITALITY
- Construction has begun on a new Hyatt Studios Hotel at the Summit East complex in Tallahassee. The four-story, 115-room hotel will feature apartment-style studio units and full kitchens. The Hyatt Studios Hotel is one of five hotels under various stages of construction or review in the Tallahassee area. Those projects include a Homewood Suites by Hilton, a proposed Country Inn & Suites and two other hotel projects currently in the process of permit approval.
WORKFORCE TRAINING
- Eastern Shipbuilding Group and Tom P. Haney Technical College have partnered to create a new apprenticeship program. The Marine Electrician Apprenticeship Program aims to strengthen the local shipbuilding workforce in Bay County.
Round House
The Spring House, the only private residence in Florida designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, is on the market. Built in 1954, the 2,040-sq.-ft. Tallahassee residence is a rare example of the “hemicycle” architectural design which features a semi-circular layout. The asking price is $2.1 million.
Missile Destroyers
Eastern Shipbuilding Group is partnering with Mississippi-based Ingalls Shipbuilding to help build guided missile destroyers for the U.S. Navy. The Panama City-based company, Bay County’s largest private employer, will provide structural units in the destroyers of the Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class vessels.