A Kohl's department store still ringing up sales in Coconut Creek has quietly become the property of South Florida's largest hospital operator. Baptist Health South Florida paid $53.5 million for the 92,700-square-foot store and its 8.2-acre parcel at 6950 North State Road 7, a deal that works out to roughly $577 per square foot for a building that, for now, remains open to shoppers.
The sale was first reported by The Real Deal, which noted the site sits inside the Caligo Crossing retail center near Hillsboro Boulevard, in northern Broward County close to the Palm Beach County line. That stretch of State Road 7 functions as a major commercial corridor linking the two counties, according to Florida Medical Space, which covered the acquisition's strategic geography. Kohl's originally bought the property in 2008 for $14.8 million, meaning Baptist Health's purchase price represents a massive jump in value for a parcel that has spent nearly two decades under Kohl's ownership.
A Baptist Health spokesperson said the system is still evaluating its long-term plans for the site, per the same Real Deal report, leaving unresolved exactly what will replace — or accompany — the retailer inside the building. Kohl's, led by CEO Michael Bender, announced in 2025 that it would shutter 27 underperforming stores nationwide, though it is not clear from available reporting whether the Coconut Creek location is tied to that closure plan or how soon it might stop operating as a Kohl's.
A Broward Footprint Already Ten Locations Deep
The Coconut Creek purchase adds to a Baptist Health presence that already spans 10 locations across Broward County, anchored by Plantation Medical Center, the system's largest facility in the county. Baptist Health owned 12 hospitals and roughly 200 medical care and office facilities as of 2025, and operates across Miami-Dade, Monroe, Broward, and Palm Beach counties with more than 28,000 employees and 4,500 physicians, according to Baptist Health. The nonprofit system, which traces its roots to a single hospital on Miami's North Kendall Drive in 1960, logs more than 2 million patient visits annually.
Bo Boulenger serves as CEO of Baptist Health South Florida, which competes directly with HCA Healthcare, Memorial Healthcare System, and Broward Health for patients across the county. That rivalry has played out in real estate before: in 2022, Baptist Health won a competing bid for a 25-acre site in Sunrise, paying $14.3 million after Memorial Healthcare and Broward Health placed the other bid. Baptist Health's Sunrise hospital, now under construction on that land, will span 340,000 square feet and is slated for completion in 2029.
Coconut Creek itself has grown into a market worth chasing. The city's population reached an estimated 58,931 residents in 2026, a 2.5% rise from the 2020 Census, with a median household income of $75,014 and a median age of 41.5, according to World Population Review. The city sits in northern Broward County next to Parkland and Coral Springs, giving Baptist Health a suburban base near the Palm Beach County line.
Retail Real Estate Becomes a Health System Playbook
The Kohl's deal fits a broader pattern for Baptist Health, which has been buying and building across South Florida's real estate map. In 2025, the system paid $26 million for a ground lease on a three-story medical office building in Boynton Beach and is separately expanding with a three-story, 61,000-square-foot medical center in Pembroke Pines, set to open in early 2027. Outside South Florida, Baptist Health secured a $3.79 million municipal permit to convert nearly 31,000 square feet of a former Jacksonville shopping mall into a back-office services hub, a project Hoodline previously reported represents phase one of a larger San Marco East Plaza redevelopment.
That pattern mirrors a national shift industry watchers call medtail. The share of leased medical space inside U.S. retail buildings climbed from 16% in 2010 to 20% in recent years, per Advisory Board, as health systems chase the parking, visibility, and suburban access that big-box retail sites offer. A separate survey from the International Council of Shopping Centers found nearly seven in 10 U.S. adults have already received healthcare services inside a shopping center, strip mall, or enclosed mall, a trend landlords have embraced because healthcare tenants sign long leases and resist e-commerce disruption.
Public Rivals Consolidate as Baptist Health Expands
Baptist Health's growth is unfolding as its public hospital rivals reshape their own leadership structure. Broward Health and Memorial Healthcare System, both taxpayer-funded districts created by the Florida Legislature, approved a joint arrangement in September to operate under a single shared permanent CEO, Shane Strum, while remaining separate public hospital districts, according to Becker's Hospital Review. Broward County's public healthcare delivery has long been split between two tax-supported districts.
That leadership consolidation follows a legislative setback earlier this year. A 2026 bill that would have granted Broward Health and Memorial Healthcare System broad immunity from antitrust laws to pursue joint ventures was defeated in the state Legislature, as reported by WUSF. Opponents argued the measure amounted to a backdoor merger that could have restricted competition against private networks like Baptist Health. Broward Health, for its part, has continued building on its own, with two medical office buildings under construction in Fort Lauderdale and Deerfield Beach set for completion in 2027, a third freestanding emergency room planned for Fort Lauderdale, and two freestanding ERs already opened across the county in 2026.
Baptist Health has also been building its patient pipeline through partnerships rather than just property. In June, Amazon-owned primary care provider One Medical struck a network agreement to direct its South Florida patients to Baptist Health specialists, a deal Hoodline covered in June. Whether the Coconut Creek Kohl's becomes an outpatient clinic, a specialty facility, or something else entirely remains an open question — one that includes not just the eventual clinical use of the space but also the municipal rezoning or traffic review the City of Coconut Creek may require before any redevelopment can move forward.
