FT. MYERS, FL-Gates-Haskell, a joint venture between the Haskell Co. and Gates Construction, won the construction management contract for the $27-million LeeSar Regional Service Center. Gates-Haskell is planning, scheduling and managing construction of the new 205,000-square-foot facility.

LeeSar is a regional healthcare supply-chain management company serving healthcare organizations across the Southeast. The company was formed by the Lee Memorial Healthcare System and the Sarasota Memorial Healthcare System in 1998. The new facility will help LeeSar expand its services, which include medical supply acquisition and distribution, pharmaceutical repacking, contract negotiations, instrument repair, courier service, centralized sterile processing for surgical instruments and food management and preparation for local hospitals.

“The LeeSar facility combines so many ‘back of the house’ hospital services--such as food preparation, surgical equipment sterilization, warehousing and distribution--under one roof,” Don Kartzmark, a project executive with Haskell’s Commercial Group, tells GlobeSt.com. He says the facility will improve LeeSar’s cost structure help it improve the quality of care to Florida’s healthcare organizations and their patients.