PANAMA CITY BEACH — Local officials say the health care campus being built on the Beach will revolutionize the city. 

In a City Council meeting Thursday, Andrew Starr, chief health operations officer of Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, gave an update on the project, which he said would have a major impact on the medical needs of everyone living in and around Panama City Beach. 

"There's a lot of great hospitals in this area, but (they) are a distance away," Starr said. "That (creates) a real opportunity (for this campus), and also a situation that needs to be bridged as you have more and more citizens moving into this immediate area and the surrounding areas.

"Having a health care infrastructure to further support the growth and population is not a want, it's a need."

Work gets underway:Progress made on 'game-changing' medical campus project in Panama City Beach

ER healthcare service on the Beach:$11 million freestanding emergency room coming to Panama City Beach. Here are the details

The campus, which was unnamed as of Friday, will sit on 87 acres at State Road 79 and Philip Griffitts Sr. Parkway. It is being built through a partnership between Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, Florida State University and the St. Joe Company. 

Site work is underway to clear and prep the land for construction. 

Starr noted in his presentation Thursday that development of the campus will be split into two main phases, the first of which will establish a medical office building able to tackle primary care, urgent care, cardiology, orthopedics and ambulatory surgery.

The hospital building then will be built in the second phase. Original plans were for the facility to open with about 30 to 40 inpatient beds and expand shortly after to have 100. However, Starr told council members the facility might need all 100 right off the bat to deal with how much the area is booming. 

He also said the medical office building will open no later than the end of 2024, with the hospital opening no later than the end of 2027. And this is just the beginning. 

With an 87-acre footprint, Starr said the campus could eventually expand to include four medical office buildings and a 500-bed hospital. 

Councilman Paul Casto and Mayor Mark Sheldon said building a hospital on the Beach is something many residents have wanted "for a long, long time." 

"This is something that's been in the works here in Panama City Beach for decades, and it looks like it's finally going to come to fruition," Casto said. "I look forward to the ground breaking, ribbon cutting (and) having this hospital here ... for my family and generations to come."

They said the facility not only will give residents a closer health care option, it also will create more jobs, attract new people to the area and continue to help Panama City Beach make a name for itself as a premier vacation destination.  

"This will change not just Panama City Beach, but it will change Bay County in a lot of ways," Sheldon said "This will give ... people a reason to move here, a reason to come here and call what we love as paradise home.'"