Phil Mahler
Formerly at Savills, Philip B. Mahler joins company’s medical real estate team
By John B. Mugford
HFF continues to beef up its national healthcare real estate practice.
In January, the company hired well-known healthcare real estate (HRE) professional W. Michael Bennett as a managing director focused on medical real estate transactions.
So far, 2014 has proven to be an active year for the group, as it has brokered about $300 million in healthcare facility transactions.
In recent weeks, HFF further bolstered its healthcare practice by bringing in Philip B. “Phil” Mahler, another familiar face in HRE circles who was with the Healthcare Real Estate Group at Savills in New York for nearly 11 years. During that time, he was involved in deals totaling more than $6 billion.
“I came to the conclusion that HFF was the best fit for me as I was looking for a capital markets group with a national platform that I could be a part of and help grow,” says Mr. Mahler, who joins the firm as a managing director.
“And what’s really impressed me so far has been the incredible collaboration of the whole team at HFF. Everyone is involved in the common goal of serving the client, and the motto is, ‘Put the best team on the field for every transaction,’ and that goes for everything that we do.”
As far as Mr. Mahler is concerned, the national platform that HFF has created and continues to grow is bolstered by its numerous professionals in other sectors of commercial real estate, or its “boots on the ground” in markets nationwide.
“Having so many professionals out there being active in all asset classes helps us get the message out that HFF is a very active player in the healthcare business, as it helps generate leads with a variety of owners, developers and investors who might be interested in medical real estate transactions, including some who might want to monetize facilities,” he says.
Mr. Bennett adds that he is “excited to have Phil join the HFF team from not only a transactional standpoint, but also a leadership role. Phil is a huge piece of our plan to grow our global capital markets platform. Our goal is to be the best choice for healthcare real estate equity, debt, and investment sales.”
The group focuses on medical office buildings (MOBs), post-acute facilities, long-term acute care hospitals (LTACHs), specialty facilities and hospitals, and others. It is not involved in seniors housing, as HFF has a separate group focused on that sector.
Mr. Mahler adds that HFF’s healthcare group is open to and capable of completing transactions of almost any size, from deals involving one or two buildings to large portfolios. “We work with clients from national and international firms to local and regional players,” notes Mr. Mahler, who had his start in healthcare real estate while working alongside some of sector’s best-known veterans at Ernst & Young.
John Pelusi, executive managing director and head of HFF’s national healthcare practice, noted in a statement that Mr. Mahler brings plenty of experience to an already experienced and growing team of healthcare professionals that includes Mr. Bennett and Jack Dudick, who was formerly with Chicago-based Lillibridge, as well as others.
“Phil has an extensive background in the commercial real estate industry and a deep understanding of the medical office space, having transacted numerous investment sales, financing assignments, joint ventures, direct hospital monetization strategies and strategic recaps, among others,” Mr. Pelusi said. “Phil, alongside Michael Bennett, Jack Dudick, and the entire HFF healthcare team, will utilize a true team approach to put the ‘best team on the field’ for every transaction. Phil will be splitting his time between Chicago and New York City, and will focus on medial office transactions nationally.”
In his short amount of time so far at HFF, Mr. Mahler says he’s “energized” by how busy the group has been. As of recent weeks, the HFF team had been retained to bring about $576 million worth of medical assets to the market, including two specialty surgical hospitals and an East Coast MOB.
“It’s exciting to be here and I’ve just been blown away by the HFF platform, which is so efficient and collaborative,” Mr. Mahler says.
“And our executive leadership likes to say that we are just in the first inning of developing our national healthcare capital markets group, which means we have a lot more to come.”
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