Planners okay medical building on Bruce B. Downs near SR 56.

DADE CITY — The county's top planners approved plans Thursday for a medical office building to be part of Wesley Chapel's first hospital.

The 90,000-square-foot building will be part of a three-building medical complex that will include a hospital. The site is on the east side of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard about a half mile north of State Road 56.

Officials attached a number of conditions, including keeping a 200-foot buffer around any breeding sandhill cranes.

Hospital officials expect to start construction on the site next year, if all goes as planned.

The proposed hospital is a joint venture between Adventist Health System and University Community Hospital. The two companies won state permission to build the hospital amid a challenge from Pinellas-based Baycare.

An administrative law judge recently upheld the state's decision to grant the license.

In other business, county planners gave the initial green light to the Shoppes at Lake Padgett, a proposed center with four one-story buildings on nearly 4 1/2 acres at U.S. 41 and Swans Landing Drive. Plans include 17,425 square feet of retail and 6,900 square feet of restaurant space.

Planners also approved the fourth phase of Southport Springs retirement community. The project is just north of the Chancey Road/Zephyr Springs Parkway intersection.