A skilled nursing facility on the South Miami corridor is adding approximately 180 beds with a new campus on Sunset Drive, a project the center says will nearly triple its current capacity.
West Gables Health Care Center broke ground Thursday, June 11, on a 125,000-square-foot, five-story rehabilitation and long-term care building at 9025 SW 72nd St. (Sunset Drive). The facility is moving from its current location at 2525 SW 75th Ave., above West Gables Rehab Hospital. State and local dignitaries, healthcare partners, and Marquis leadership attended the June 11 ceremony.
"Simply put, we've outgrown our current home," said Michael Smith, division president of Marquis Health Consulting Services, the third-generation, family-owned company that provides administrative consulting to West Gables. Smith, a registered nurse and licensed nursing home administrator, said the new campus represents the kind of long-term investment the family business wants to make in the community.
West Gables operates with consulting support from Marquis, which is headquartered in Brick, N.J., and works with 112 skilled nursing facilities along the East Coast. The facility holds a five-star overall rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Joint Commission accreditation. In 2025, it became the first skilled nursing facility in Florida to earn the American Heart Association's Stroke Rehabilitation Certification and is among the nation's first AHA Heart Failure certified centers.
The new building will feature all private rooms, dining on each floor, activity lounges, and an outdoor courtyard. West Gables also runs specialty programs in cardiac rehab, orthopedic recovery, renal care, and pulmonary rehab.
The expansion comes as Miami-Dade County's aging population grows. The county has 653,263 residents age 60 and older, the largest such population in Florida, according to the state Department of Elder Affairs. Emmett Reed, CEO of the Florida Health Care Association, said the state's long-term care sector supports roughly $27 billion of Florida's economy and 286,000 jobs statewide.
