Rendina converts a former Dick’s store near Philly into a hub for Inspira Health
By John B. Mugford
Rendina Healthcare Real Estate led the repurposing of a former Dick’s Sporting Goods store in Deptford, N.J., into an 83,501 square foot MOB anchored by Mullica Hill, N.J.-based Inspira Health. The facility opened in April 2024, and system officials are ecstatic with the results. (Photo courtesy of Rendina)
As a good many office buildings, retail centers and other spaces have been vacated in recent years, many property owners have contacted healthcare real estate (HRE) developers about the possibility of repurposing those facilities for medical use.
However, as most experienced HRE developers will tell you, a viable repurposing project takes the right type of building, the right location, ample parking and numerous other factors.
Yet, when all the ingredients are there, a medical conversion can save a developer and its tenants a considerable amount of money versus a new, ground-up development. Additionally, with an entitlement process that tends to be quicker, repurposing can save time and provide greater speed-to-market.
When Mullica Hill, N.J.-based Inspira Health – which dominates an area of suburbs across the Delaware River from Philadelphia with four hospitals and dozens of other locations – found a building it was confident would make a good conversion project, it acquired the property in 2021 and began working closely with the city of Deptford, N.J., which encouraged the redevelopment.
The building was a vacant, 83,501 square foot former Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS) store at 1450 Almonesson Road, across the street from the busy Deptford Mall. Prior to the system’s purchase, Dick’s had moved into a former Sears store in the mall itself, which is about 12 miles outside of Philadelphia’s Center City.
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