A once-derelict psychiatric hospital in Orlando is now providing specialized recovery treatments thanks to extensive adaptive reuse renovations.
Select Specialty Hospital at 7450 Sand Lake Commons Blvd. was built in the 1980s but was primarily vacant in 2021 when owner Holladay Properties began exploring restoration possibilities. The first idea was to make speculative medical office space for a variety of tenants.
Recovery specialists Select Medical leased the building in 2023 before the completion of renovations, earning a 2024 CoStar Impact Award for Lease of the Year for Orlando. From there, the focus became delivering a single, inpatient 72,000-square-foot facility for recovery care.
Converting an aging, underutilized structure into a Class A, fully compliant healthcare facility required navigating complex regulatory requirements. The redevelopment included extensive site, structural and building upgrades to fully modernize and reposition the property, including a completely reconstructed parking lot.
The resulting Select Specialty Hospital now offers 63 beds, with programs treating patients recovering from stroke and neurological disorders, brain and spinal cord injuries, amputation and complex orthopedic cases, among other conditions. The recovery focus fills a crucial gap in Orlando’s medical community.
The on-mission transformation of this property is why the redevelopment earned a 2026 CoStar Impact Award, as judged by real estate experts in the market.
About the project: The building envelope was entirely overhauled, with a new roof, hurricane-rated windows, exterior insulation and finishing systems, weather-resistant DensGlass sheathing, new awnings and canopies and upgraded exterior doors.
What the judges said: “This project was extremely impactful by taking an underutilized property and converting it to a specialized rehab hospital,” said Laura Carroll, the City of Orlando’s real estate division manager. “Redevelopment is particularly challenging, but switching gears from speculative medical office space to a hospital use midstream had to have been difficult.”
“I love that they took a dilapidated medical building and transformed it into a modern, fully compliant inpatient hospital — overcoming significant design, structural and code challenges along the way. With Florida’s aging population, this facility isn’t just valuable; it’s essential. It also brings new jobs to the area across every aspect of the medical field,” said Janet Galvin, co-founder and tenant and landlord representation for Archon Commercial Advisors.
They made it happen: From Holladay Properties, Lucas Brush, manager of development and acquisitions, and Jeff Ottman, senior vice president and partner, acted as developers.