FORT MYERS, Fla. (April 19, 2021) – Morris-Depew Associates (MDA), Southwest Florida’s premier civil engineering surveying, land use planning, and landscape architecture firm, has completed services for Florida Cancer Specialists, a leading healthcare institution providing access to world-class cancer care and research.
Professionals at MDA had the privilege of working with four Florida Cancer Specialists locations throughout Southwest Florida to provide a complete scope of development permitting services, including due diligence, engineering, landscape, planning and surveying. Offices included Fort Myers-Colonial, Estero, Global Parkway (an FCS & American Oncology Network office) and North Port.
While each location provided their own set of parameters for size and scope, with varying challenges – from irregularities in shape, conservation land considerations to rigorous municipal architectural requirements – the end result at all locations was a harmonious site and building design that exceeded client expectations.
For the Fort Myers-Colonial location Project Manager and Engineer Stephen VerVaecke, PE and Landscape Architect Matt Lincolnhol, PLA led plans to create a functional and appealing site for the development of a 20,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art cancer treatment center. Achieving an effective site design was accomplished by establishing constraining elements and creatively working around them to meet local and state development regulations. The team also assisted in obtaining a multitude of permits for development.
In the upscale Coconut Point commercial development on the south end of the Village of Estero, Florida Cancer Specialists retained Morris-Depew Associates to provide a full array of services. The project team was co-led by Engineering Project Manager Jack Morris, PE, Stephen VerVaecke, PE, as well as Director of Landscape Architect Michael Ekblad, PLA, with support from Cory VerVaecke and Taylor Maggiorani. The project required multi-disciplined coordination with the engineers, architect, and landscape architect divisions working with the client to provide persuasive presentations to the Village Design Review Board and public. The end result was a successful project that met the requirements of the Coconut Point Pattern book and Village Land Development Code, while providing the specific design provisions required by the client.
The MDA team also managed site design and permitting for a joint facility for Florida Cancer Specialists and AON (American Oncology Network) on a 5-acre parcel in the Southwest International Commerce Park. The design for the 50,000-square-foot building and associated infrastructure was formed by numerous factors, including a high parking demand for the split facility, the design requirement enforced by the Property Owners Association, and the Hazardous Wildlife buffer surrounding the Southwest Florida International Airport. The project team was co-led by Director of Operations Ryan Shute, PE, Stephen VerVaecke, PE, as well as Michael Ekblad PLA, with support from Cory VerVaecke and Taylor Maggiorani.
At the North Port location, operator Optimal Outcomes based in St. Petersburg retained Morris-Depew Associates to provide a full array of site design and permitting services from the initial due diligence on the parcel to the construction administration of the Florida Cancer Specialists site. To ensure the design was consistent with the Heron Creek Pattern book, the MDA team worked closely with the City of North Port, and incorporated digital perspective imagery to help visualize the full scale and scope of the project. This included providing design, engineering, and digital perspective imagery support for an enhanced Healing Garden on the site to be used by patients and visitors. The Healing Garden features informal gathering spaces and an iconic trellis structure, which not only serves patients, but satisfies the public art requirement for the City. The project team was led by Stephen VerVaecke PE, and Matt Lincolnhol, PLA, with support from Cory VerVaecke, Taylor Maggiorani and permit coordination by Amber Francisco.
Celebrating more than 30 years of serving Southwest Florida, Morris-Depew Associates is a multiservice consulting firm with specialties in civil engineering, land planning, expert witness, landscape architecture and surveying and mapping services. MDA’s efforts are based on a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach to the planning and design processes, which emphasizes interaction within the firm’s allied professional expertise in conjunction with the client’s objectives and ultimate needs. The members of MDA have experience in the planning and design of a wide variety of urban, residential, commercial, industrial, recreational and community-oriented projects ranging from large-scale resort residential projects to urban community spaces and commercial multiuse developments.
For more information, contact 239-337-3993 or visit www.morris-depew.com.
