Marketing & Leasing: Brokers get creative as leasing slows

INTERFACE MEDICAL OFFICE SEMINAR PANELISTS SHARE ADVICE, OBSERVATIONS

By Murray W. Wolf

The leasing panel at the recent InterFace Medical Office Conference included (from left to right) Chad Pinnell of
Skilken Pinnell, Tommy Tift of HealthAmerica, Dave Narey of Jones Lang LaSalle and John Wilson of HSA PrimeCare.
Photo courtesy of InterFace Conference Group

Bruce Bright of The Sanders Trust led the InterFace leasing panel.
Photo courtesy of InterFace

Medical office leasing slowed dramatically during the past several months as physicians, hospitals and health systems hunkered down in response to the recession.

So what is happening in the market today, and how can brokers cope?

That was the emphasis of a panel discussion held April 28 during the InterFace Medical Office Conference in Chicago. The session was titled “Operations Overload: MOB Marketing and Leasing in a Challenging Market.”

Some of the key points were:

• Medical office space leasing has been slow since last fall, but seems to be picking up.
• Cash-strapped hospitals and physicians are putting increasing pressure on developers and landlords to provide larger tenant improvement (TI) allowances and other incentives.
• The use of tenant representatives is on the rise.
• Even more so than in other sectors, relationships and careful planning hold the keys to successful medical office leasing efforts.