Firm completes its fourth project for Norman (Okla.) Regional Health
By John B. Mugford
The two-story, 49,196 square foot OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center at Norman (Okla.) Regional earned Bremner Healthcare Real Estate the 2025 HREI Insights Award for the Best New Medical Outpatient Building (MOB) of from 25,000 to 49,999 square feet. (Photo courtesy of Bremner Healthcare Real Estate)
In 2019, just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Norman Regional Health in Norman engaged in a procurement process to find a developer for a freestanding emergency department (FSED) that it had planned for a site on the city’s southeast side.
The firm that came out on top of that process was Indianapolis-based Bremner Healthcare Real Estate, which had been relaunched in 2017 by healthcare real estate (HRE) veteran James D. “Jim” Bremner. Mr. Bremner had co-founded and led an earlier iteration of the firm from 1989 to 2007, before it was acquired by and integrated into Duke Realty Corp. (NYSE: DRE).
Although the pandemic delayed construction, the new Bremner firm, led since 2019 by Jim’s son, Matt, was finally able to move forward with the project in mid-2021. Named Norman Regional Nine because it became the ninth facility in the system’s network of care locations, the 12-bed, 45,250 square foot FSED opened in October 2022 at 2000 Ann Branden Blvd.
The new FSED has been a big success for Norman Regional, enabling the system to bring emergency and other services to the growing south side of Norman, especially since the July 2024 closing of the system’s former Porter Hospital near downtown. In addition to the ED, Norman Regional Nine includes a rehabilitation clinic, a pharmacy and physician offices.
The facility was also the first project completed as part of Norman Regional Health System’s ambitious, multi-year strategic transformation and master facility plan called Inspire Health. Under the Inspire Health plan, the system aimed to: consolidate inpatient acute care services into one modern flagship hospital; expand outpatient and ambulatory services; improve access to emergency care in growing areas; create specialized centers for cancer, behavioral health, women’s health and more; and revitalize the older Porter Avenue campus into a “Health Village.”
With the success of the FSED project fresh on the health system’s mind, Norman Regional turned to Bremner again, this time for a much bigger and more ambitious project: the programmatic development of the new flagship campus.
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