Outpatient Projects (January 2006)

NexCore opens two Chicago-area MOBs

DEVELOPER ALSO COMPLETES MEDICAL OFFICE AND SURGERY CENTER IN OREGON

 

By Murray Wolf

 

Denver-based NexCore Group says it has opened two new medical office buildings (MOBs) on Alexian Brothers Health System campuses in suburban Chicago, and has completed construction of a freestanding MOB and surgery center in Bend, Ore.

The Chicago-area projects include St. Alexius Medical Center MOB III in Hoffman Estates and Alexian Brothers Medical Center (ABMC) MOB in Elk Grove Village. St. Alexius Medical Center MOB III is a five-story, 114,000 square foot MOB that is connected to the hospital and a two-level 380-space parking deck. ABMC is a three-story, 65,000 square foot on-campus facility that tops a four-level, 570-space parking structure.

NexCore affiliates developed, financed, own and manage both facilities. Both MOBs have a limited amount of space remaining for lease, according to NexCore, and tenants also have the opportunity to purchase equity in the buildings.

Alexian officials say the new MOBs are intended to complement a $400 million-plus expansion program launched by the system in early 2004.

The architect for the Chicago-area MOBs was Proteus Group of Chicago. M.A. Mortenson Co. of Minneapolis was the contractor for the St. Alexius MOB and Power Construction of Schaumberg, Ill., was the contractor for the ABMC facility.

NexCore says it also recently completed construction of the two-story, 53,253 square foot Bend (Ore.) Surgery Center. The facility put orthopedic diagnostic, surgical and rehabilitation services under one roof for two local physician groups that had insufficient space at other locations.

Bend Surgery Center is owned by physicians from the two groups through a limited partnership. NexCore arranged financing, structured the real estate partnership and served as developer for the turnkey project. Neenan Co. of Denver was the design-build firm for the project and LibertyBank of Bend provided the construction and permanent financing.

Rendina refinances

$74 million

in property loans

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Rendina Cos. recently refinanced nine medical office property loans totaling $74.3 million. The properties were refinanced at interest rates ranging from 4.89 percent to 5.33 percent through GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp.

The portfolio of MOBs has more than 500,000 square feet of space. Five of the properties are located in Florida, three in Texas and one in Arizona.

 

In other news from Rendina, the company says it has closed on construction financing for two MOB projects.

Rendina says it closed a $16.75 million construction loan with KeyBank for the four-story, 80,000 square foot Medical Arts Pavilion to be built on the campus of Saint Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The financing was announced Nov. 17, at which time Rendina said construction was expected to begin immediately. The new MOB will house expanded hospital services, as well as a variety of specialized services, including hematology/oncology, urology and other medical sub-specialties, according to the firm.

In December, Rendina Cos. said it closed on a $7.2 million construction loan with BankAtlantic for a four-story, 50,000 square foot MOB to be located on the campus of Wellington (Fla.) Regional Medical Center. Construction was expected to immediately. The new MOB will provide space for hospital services, as well as a variety of specialized services including bariatric surgery, wound care, OB/GYN, family practice, urology, internal medicine and pediatric ophthalmology, according to the firm. Wellington is owned by a subsidiary of Universal Health Services Inc. (NYSE: UHS).

Rendina also says that it recently hired John K. Criddle and Wade Kuzmick as associate leasing directors.

For the Record

PHS LLC has reportedly broken ground for the two-story, 63,600 square foot Provena Mercy Medical Center Health and Wellness Club in Aurora, Ill. Plans call for two swimming pools, a spa, a basketball court, three group exercise rooms and an outdoor walking/jogging area. Studio 23 is the project architect and Morgan/Harbour Construction Co. of Westmont, Ill., is the contractor. Completion is scheduled for spring 2006… Cirrus Group recently held the grand opening for the Surgery Centre at Craig Ranch, the 14,060 square foot ground floor of the three-story, 53,000 square foot Medical Center at Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas. The facility was developed by Cirrus with physicians as partners… MedPark Development secured a $12.8 million construction/mini-permanent loan from the Bank of Birmingham for the construction of the 130,000 square foot Big Bend Professional Park in Hillsborough County, Fla. Doug Rozzell of Thomas D. Wood and Co. of Coral Gables, Fla., arranged the financing for the planned professional and medical office park. Plans call for a campus consisting of individual 5,000 square foot to 6,000 square foot buildings… An undisclosed group of physicians plans to break ground by March for the 60,000 square foot Katy (Texas) Medical Arts Building. Construction is scheduled for completion by December 2006. Mathis Group of Sugar Land, Texas, is developing the MOB for the physicians, the Houston office of PageSoutherlandPage is the architect, and the Houston office of Cadence-McShane is the design-build contractor. The MOB would be near Memorial Hermann Katy Hospital, a $98 million, 310,000 square foot hospital now under construction. Plans for that project also include an $18 million, 125,000 square foot, physician-owned MOB… A group of physicians plans to develop a 70,000 square foot medical center on 22 acres in Austin, Texas. The proposed Buda Medical Park would include a 25,000 square foot MOB, a 30,000-square-foot assisted living facility and a 15,000-square-foot Alzheimer’s care center. Future phases would include a surgery center and a rehabilitation clinic. Construction is slated to begin in February. Kraus-Anderson Inc. is the general contractor… The approval of more than 20 California ambulatory surgery centers has been delayed because the state’s budget deficit has left the state Department of Health Services with too few staff members to conduct timely inspections, according to an article in last month’s Sacramento Business Journal. In one case, a two-week delay in the final inspection of a new surgery center in Yuba City, Calif., reportedly cost a physicians’ group affiliated with Sutter Health more than $700,000. Some have suggested that private companies could do the work if state law was changed. The newspaper reports that 22 other states have already hired private firms to perform such services. q